


A Good Person

by UAs_Fics



Category: South Park
Genre: Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Polyamory, super hero AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-02 00:25:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16775938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UAs_Fics/pseuds/UAs_Fics
Summary: Kenny says Leo is a 'good person,’ but Stan doesn't know how much he can believe that.After all, Leo is a super villain.





	1. Half-Lies

**Author's Note:**

> You know that thing where you read two posts before you pass out and then wake up at 3 am with a combined idea of them? Yeeeeeeeaah. That's what happened here.  
> Super hero au

Kenny slipped silently through Stan’s front door. 

He rubbed his lower back, the phantom memory of the stabbing knife, still played through his healed skin. The moment the mugger's blade struck him instead of her target, she looked up to see Mysterion’s dark, piercing eyes glaring over his shoulder at her. The color drained from her face in horrified realization.

She dropped the knife a moment later and tried to flee, but Mysterion's dark whip coiled around her ankle and tripped her face first into the cold, hard sidewalk.

Of course, that mugger had served no challenged to Kenny’s alter ego, Mysterion, the great and immortal hero. They never do. 

Kenny stretched to the side, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He heard his spine pop — though that was more a result of sleeping on an old mattress than his hero activities. 

At least tonight he got a reprieve from that inconvenience.

Stan looked up from his meal, a spoon of mash potatoes inches from his lips.

"You're late," He commented before shoving the potatoes in his mouth. Around them, he continued, "Everything alright?"

Kenny strolled over to the silverware drawer as he spoke.

"Everything is fine." He said. That was not quite a lie. Everything _was_ alright—now at least.

He picked up a spoon before heading over to the table. Sitting on the table top, he scooped Stan's bowl right from in front of him and began to chow down on the instant spuds.

"Is this all you're having for dinner?" He asked.

"Not dinner.” Stan pointed to the oven clock. "Midnight snack."

Kenny choked.

He beat his chest a few times before swallowing hard. He shoved the bowl across the table as his cheeks began to burn. It hadn't taken _that_ long to bring the mugger in, had it? 

"Shit, Stan, I'm sorry. I got caught up at work and—"

"It's cool, dude," Stan took his bowl back. "I told you, you don't have to lie to me about spending time with your other boyfriend. If you want to spend time with him after work, do it. Just give me more of a heads up next time."

‘ _So I don't worry._ ’

Those words hung unspoken in the air between them. Guilt wrapped around Kenny's stomach and squeezed. For all of Stan's bravado about being the epitome of uncaring nihilism, Kenny knew full well he was one of the most caring souls around. A caring that came from a place of true empathy instead of a feeling of duty or justice. 

A caring like that was rare.

Kenny reached over and set a hand on Stan's. He smiled softly.

"Sorry. I'll do better. Promise." Kenny decided it was better not to correct Stan that he really was late because of work. This time, at least, Leo didn't have anything to do with his tardiness.

He hopped off the table then offered out his hand. "Bed?"

Stan eyed the mostly finished bowl then shrugged. He would probably deal with it later. Stan took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled from his seat.

On the way to the bedroom, and the softest mattress Kenny had ever slept on, Stan asked, "So, speaking of your other boyfriend, will I ever get to meet him?"

Kenny was glad he took the lead so Stan couldn't see him wince. A heartbeat later, he coughed a laugh.

"I don't know. Maybe? Leo's _very_ selective with the people he let's know about our relationship. You know how people are, Stan."

Again, not a full lie...

He continued, looking over his shoulder with a cheeky smile, "Are you sure you're not asking because you plan to steal him for yourself?"

Stan chuckled then used their combined hands to gently shove him forward. His side hit against the doorframe.

He bounced off the frame then shouldered open the loosely shut door. Taking three steps, he fell face first into the mattress, nearly pulling Stan down with him.

"God, I love your mattress." He mumbled through the layering of thick blankets.

"Sometimes I think that's the only reason you're with me." Stan laughed. He took hold of the top blanket and yanked it out from under Kenny. Kenny rolled to the middle before sprawling out his arms and legs.

"Yup, totally, the first chance, I'm going to elope with your mattress," He teased before climbing off the bed to strip out of his jeans and shirt. He folded them up before dumping them in the hamper near Stan’s guitar. He plucked a string a few times, earning a chuckle from Stan.

“My offer to teach you to play still stands,” Stan reminded as Kenny headed back towards the bed.

“Nah. I already have to beat admirers off me with a stick, knowing how to play the guitar would only bring more of them.” He winked, lifting the covers, before slipping in. Only from his nose up peeked out.

Stan rolled his eyes, dropped the blanket at the end of the bed, then hit the lights.

Kenny heard Stan's feet as he padded through the dark. The blankets lifted as Stan crawled in, pressing his back close against Kenny's side.

"Night, Stan," Kenny muttered, pressing a kiss to the top of Stan's head.

"Hmm, night," Stan muttered back. 

The ambient noises of the suburb filled the night: The distant rumbling of freight trains and mumble of the wind as it played along snow-covered rooftops.

Just as Kenny began to doze off, Stan whispered, "You've never shown me a picture of him before. Leo, that is. You just tell me about him."

Kenny pulled his arm from behind the pillow under Stan's head then turned. He wrapped an arm around his waist, nuzzling into his hair. It was greasy, but Kenny had grown used to that. 

He laughed quietly.

"That's because all the pictures I have of Leo are from the waist down." 

Stan chuckled. "Wow, Kenny." The conversation seemed to end after that as Stan's breathing becoming deeper until he drifted off.

Kenny sighed.

How many half lies had that been in the span of ten minutes? Three or four?

Three, Kenny finally decided. Three half lies, not counting his lie of omission about his reason for being late.

One that everything was fine when Kenny had been stabbed less than an hour ago.

Two, that Leo was particular about whom he let in on their relationship. He didn't care if people know _Leo_ and _Kenny_ were together. 

Three, that he didn't have any pictures of Leo's face.

Technically, Kenny _didn't_ have any pictures of _Leo's_ face, but he had plenty of Professor Chaos'.

* * *

Toolshed looked over the city. Both bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun. The night would be upon them soon, and with night came the low lives that crawled from the dark corners. 

Toolshed always felt a pang of pity for the criminals he apprehended. Something in their lives pushed them to break the law. Be it their parents, their spouses, or society itself, something had failed to give them the strength to carry on the law-abiding path.

Or that's what Toolshed liked to think.

Whenever the discussion of if people are born evil or become evil came up, ToolShed would always say that people were inherently good, at least at the start.

He hadn’t always thought like that. When he was younger, he was sure no one born was good; however, the years of hero work and being around truly good people had changed much of his views.

Using his tape measure grappling hook, Toolshed swung off the top of the building. He backflipped off the side of an old apartment complex and landed on the sidewalk.

A round of clapping came to his ears.

He turned to find his teammate, Mysterion, melting out of the darkness of an alleyway.

"Seven out of ten, since your landing was a little wobbly,” He said in that overly gruff voice that ToolShed just knew was fake.

He smiled proudly. "I'll take it," ToolShed said.

Mysterion chuckled, strolling over. "Got patrol tonight?"

"Yuuuup." ToolShed popped the ‘p’ at the end. "Tonight and tomorrow. What about you?"

Mysterion shrugged. "I'm done for the day. Finally get to head home." He paused then chuckled, "Or, to my boyfriend's home, anyway."

ToolShed nodded at that but didn't pry. Of all the heroes, Mysterion kept his civilian life the closest to his chest. He never talked about his home life or work.

Except for brief mentions of it to ToolShed. 

ToolShed viewed it as an honor that Mysterion trusted him enough to divulge any information about his personal life to him, even something as small as that he had planned to spend the night with his boyfriend.

"I wish I could say the same," ToolShed admitted. "Mine has to stay home without me tonight."

"What an unlucky bastard," Mysterion shook his head. “If it were me, I'd go kick Tupperware's ass for scheduling you for the night shift.”

ToolShed stiffened for a second at the comment. He hoped Mysterion hadn't noticed.

Even before he obtained his control over all power tools, Toolshed had admired the hooded hero: Mysterion, the brave vigilante who, at the risk of his own life, tried to better the world by sweeping up crime off the city streets.

There was something just so amazing that a person his own age could change the city so much that stirred a fire in him to do better, try harder, and be a good person. Stories of Mysterion's valor and bravery were part of what kept him going through the worst of his depression as a teenager.

Then, when Coon and Friends recruited them both and he finally got to meet his personal hero, he found that Mysterion was an even braver person than the stories made him out to be. He was kind and caring, strong and stable, humble and yet rightfully proud of what he had done. A bit like Kenny, if he thought about it. Though, Mysterion was much more reserved and quiet than Kenny could ever be.

Well, Wendy used to tease him that he had a type.

He would never admit it to any of the other heroes, he had a little bit of a crush on Mysterion. If he knew Mysterion was single and willing, he would asked him on a date in a snap.

He wouldn't dare try anything, though. The way Mysterion spoke about his boyfriend, he clearly cherished him deeply. It wasn’t ToolShed's place to interfere.

Besides, he didn't even know if Mysterion was into the idea of an open relationship and the awkwardness of asking was too great of a deterrent to find out.

Maybe someday he'd find a way to bring up the topic in casual conversation.

ToolShed ran a hand through his hair, careful of his goggles. "Yeah, well, knowing him, he'll make up for it soon enough."

Mysterion smirked. "Sounds like my kind of man, 'Shed. You got yourself a good one there."

"I'd like to think so." ToolShed grinned. Before he could say anything else, his crime alert buzzed on his hip. He whipped it out.

"Robbery. I gotta go." He pointed over his shoulder.

"Need help?" Mysterion offered.

"No, it's fine." He shot his grappling tape out. "Go home, dude. Enjoy your evening."

"If you’re sure." He turned on his heels and began to walk back into the darkness.

With a nod he knew hadn't been seen, ToolShed took off into the night.

* * *

The robbery wasn't nearly as bad as the crime alert had said. It turned out to be only one man holding up a liquor store with an empty pistol. 

It took Toolshed all of two and a half minutes to sneak in, knock the pistol from his hand with a screwdriver, before tying him up with his indestructible chalk line.

As he waited for the police to arrive, he asked the man why he'd done it, only to receive a babbled, nearly incoherent, reply. When the police arrived moments later, ToolShed set a hand on his shoulder and wished him good luck.

He didn't know if the man understood him or not.

After all that, Toolshed crouched on the top of a Burger King, quietly shoving fries from a greasy cardboard holder into his mouth.

He didn't care much for Burger King's fries— Sonic's tater tots were better— but the workers here were used to heroes landing by the drive-through window thanks to how often Mosquito and the Coon get their mid-shift meals there. 

He even got a free cookie.

As he polished off his fries, something swift and orange caught his eye on the street. He turned, dropping the fry container into the paper bag with his other trash, to check it out.

Kenny stopped at the crosswalk, waiting for the light, hopping from one foot to the other. He had something rectangular in his hands, but ToolShed couldn’t tell what it was.

He raised an eyebrow. Kenny told him he would be getting off early tonight and going to bed to catch up on the sleep he'd been missing working late. They were supposed to go out to eat a late breakfast tomorrow.

What was he doing out here? 

Kenny dashed across the crosswalk. He shoved his hand in his pockets while he carefully held the rectangular object with the other. He was trying to look casual, but ToolShed knew it was an act.

Something wasn't right. 

After making a note to himself to come back and properly toss his trash away, he quietly began to hop from rooftop to rooftop in pursuit. He contemplated a few times dropping down and questioning him as ToolShed, but decided against it each time. 

Kenny was smart and knew him too well. He would be able to see through his hero persona with ease, and that was something he couldn't have happened. Kenny loved him for who he was as Stan, not as ToolShed. He didn't want Kenny idolizing him for his hero work or, worse, worrying about him all the time.

Kenny paused near an abandoned factory. He crept quietly to the gate and began to fiddle with the padlock that held the chain closed.

Was he breaking in? Why? What did a factory that hadn't been used in nearly a decade hold for Kenny?

The chain dropped with a heavy clatter to the ground before he pushed the gate open. A high pitch creak echoed around the desolate space. He didn't shut the gate behind him, instead hurrying up the stairs to one of the open cargo doors. He slipped inside and disappeared. 

Toolshed waited a few minutes, just in case he came back out, before hopping off the rooftop and scampering over to the gate.

He stooped down to inspect the padlock, expecting to find it broken, but it was still complete. Either Kenny had the key or he picked the lock.

Keeping to the dark edges near the fence, he snuck closer to the door. As he neared, voices carried from within. 

"..can't stay for long," Kenny was saying. "I told Stan I'd be home when he gets back. His boss gave him weird hours today and tomorrow."

"Ah, that's too bad," Another, far too familiar, voice replied. 

ToolShed stiffened, eyes wide. Steeling himself, he crouched down and peeked into the factory. He could barely see it, but farther in, sitting on the edge of a platform, were two figures, illuminated by a single light on the wall. 

The smaller figure was Kenny. He knew that messy outline of hair and laid back posture anywhere, but the other, the taller more resigned one, almost resembled the evil super villain Professor Chaos.

ToolShed shook his head. No, no, that couldn't be right. What would Kenny be doing with a super villain?

Spying a barely illuminated catwalk above them, Toolshed took a step back and looked up the side of the factory. There was a small window about as high up as the catwalk. Maybe they connected. 

With his grappling tape, Toolshed hurried up the wall and to the window. By some stroke of luck, the window was unlocked. He carefully pushed it open then climbed through.

The old catwalk groaned under his weight. He froze.

"Did you hear that?" Kenny asked.

Just as Chaos began to push himself up, something brushed against ToolShed's ankle.

ToolShed swallowed hard as whatever it was pulled at his jeans. Something that felt like tiny hands pressed against his leg. The feeling reminded him of a small child trying to make their parent listen.

In the faint moonlight from the window, he caught sight of whatever was trying so desperately to get his attention.

Three small raccoons.

ToolShed had helped rehabilitate raccoons before, and these couldn't be more than a few months old. Their mother was probably around somewhere.

“I think it came from up there.” Chaos walked towards a ladder that would take him up to the catwalk.

ToolShed swore to himself then kicked his leg out gently, but the raccoons kept coming back trying to crawl up his pants. They reached up with their grabby, little paws, though they didn’t seem malicious.

These were wild animals. They shouldn't even want to come near him — unless a human had been feeding them.

Now ToolShed understood what they wanted.

He hated to do this, but he had no choice. This was the only way to get them to leave.

“Here, get lost,” He hissed. Reaching into his pocket, ToolShed took out his free cookie and tossed it. One of the raccoons snatched it from the air and darted down the catwalk with the others on its tail.

They bound to a tangle of pipes on the wall then hurried down.

Chaos jumped back, nearly falling over, as the raccoons raced by his feet.

"Oooooh, that's what it was!” Chaos chuckled. “Just the babies.”

A sigh escaped his lips before ToolShed scooted across the catwalk until he was right over the top of them. He crouched and looked down.

While Chaos sat back down, Kenny pulled the object he brought with him into his lap.

“They're not going to steal the food I brought again, are they?” Kenny asked, taking a sheet of shiny foil off the object. Now that ToolShed was closer, he could tell it was a baking pan. 

“I wish you hadn't let Disarray feed them.” Kenny offered the pan and Chaos took it. The smell of chocolate floated up. Brownies.

“I didn't know he was!” Chaos defended. 

“Hopefully, they out grow the habit before they get in trouble with animal control,” Kenny said.

Professor Chaos kicked his legs out like a child, with the pan of brownies in his lap. He dug one of the brownies out and began to eat it.

"Mmm! You make some good brownies!" Chaos complimented.

"Thank you. It's a recipe from my dear aunt, Betty Crocker." Kenny joked, taking a brownie for himself. "Though the pan is actually Stan's, so we can't eat them all. It wouldn't be fair if he didn't get any."

Chaos nodded, swallowing his brownie. "Speaking of, how is he doin'?"

Toolshed tensed.

"Good, he's doing good. Though, I don't know how much I'll be able to see him, with summer coming back up." Kenny wiped his hands on his jeans. "He volunteers at the animal shelter and stays for _hours_ helping out. He's very passionate about rehabilitating dogs, especially, I've saw him help with kittens and even a calf last year" 

"Well, then, why don't you volunteer, too?" Chaos asked. "You can rehabilitate dogs together."

Kenny hummed. "I don't know. Sometimes dogs can tell what I am and don't like to come near me. I think I'd just be in the way."

ToolShed had seen dogs act strangely around Kenny before. Their tails would go between their legs, and they would back into the corners of their pens, whimpering and whining like some beast at walked into the shelter. 

When he said ' _What I am_ '? What did that mean? Yeah, it was weird that some dogs were scared of him, but Kenny was just a normal person.

"Ah, so you still ain't told him?" 

"Nope." 

_Told me what?_ ToolShed thought, narrowing his eyes.

Kenny paused then turned his head to the side. He tapped his chin. 

"You got something riiiiight..." He leaned forward, kissing Chaos right on the mouth. Chaos didn't push him away, instead turning his body towards him, one leg pulled up on to the platform. 

ToolShed barely stifled a gasp. A pang of betrayal hit his stomach. So, Kenny was cheating on him and Leo with an evil supervillain bent on the city's destruction. 

He gritted his teeth until his jaw began to ache.

Kenny pulled away. "Got it."

Chaos chuckled. "Thanks." He leaned back on his arms. "So, if not about you, you've told him about me, right? You think I'll ever be able to meet him?"

Kenny took a breath and let it out noisily through his nose. "He knows about you, and maybe one day you can meet him, but it _has_ to be as Leo, not as Chaos. I don’t think he can ever know about Chaos. He wouldn't be able to understand."

ToolShed's eyes snapped wide. 

No, no, no way...This couldn't be possible. The 'Leo' Kenny had described as a friendly, kind-hearted person was Professor Chaos? That couldn't be right. He had to have misheard!

Chaos took another brownie. "He sounds like a really swell fella, and really handsome if those pictures you showed me ain't lying." 

"Oh, they ain't—aren't." Kenny laughed. "He really is good looking. Maybe, if you two hit it off and like each other, we can all just be one big triad. I sure wouldn’t have anything against it." He pulled both his legs up until he was on his knees, before resting his forearms over Chaos' shoulders and going in for another kiss, deeper than the one before.

ToolShed suddenly became very aware of his own lips. He winced as he realized he'd shared second-hand kisses with Freedom Pals’ greatest enemy. 

A rage boiled inside him, and it took everything he had not to jump off the catwalk and demand answers from them both.

He had seen enough

By some blessing, however, ToolShed was able to sneak back to the window undetected. 

He shot out his grappling tape to hook on the lip of a window of a building. He balanced himself on the edge of the building then slammed shut the window and left.

He hoped they both heard it.

* * *

The bedroom light shone through the window when Kenny walked up towards Stan's apartment. He frowned. He didn't remember leaving it on, but he must have unless Stan came home early.

If Stan was home, hopefully, he was in his room so Kenny could leave the half-pan of brownies in the oven. He didn't have a good excuse to why he ran outside with them.

The door was unlocked when he got to the top of the stairs. 

No doubt, Stan was home.

He shouldered open the door and peeked in.

Every light was off, save for the bedroom. Sneaking into the kitchen, he hid the brownies in the oven then headed towards the bedroom.

"Stan! You here?" He poked his head in through the bedroom door. 

Stan sat on the bed, a pillow hugged to his chest between his knees. His face was buried into the blue-green pillowcase. The moment Kenny stepped in, Stan turned his head up just enough to see his eyes, and Kenny froze mid-step.

A redness ringed his eyes; eyes that were angrier than Kenny had ever seen them. Each shot daggers right at his face.

He slowly lowered his foot. 

"Stan?" He said calmly and carefully, like he was talking to a cornered animal. "What's wrong?"

Stan's glare never wavered as he shoved the pillow to the side. "Fuck off."

Kenny flinched back. "W-what? What did I do? Are you mad I wasn’t home? I just went out to grab some smokes from the gas station."

"Ha! Fucking Liar! I know what you do when you're late now, you bastard!" Stan spat. For a second, Kenny was sure he planned to dive off the bed and strangle him.

Then the words clicked.

The color drained from Kenny's face. Stan couldn't know. There was no way he could know that Kenny was Mysterion. He just couldn't! Kenny was extra careful at all times to keep those two lives as far from each other as possible!

A cold sweat started across his body. Stan of all people wouldn't be mad that he was Mysterion, right? He spoke so highly of Kenny's alter ego, claiming him to be his favorite superhero. Was he mad that Kenny had been lying about it? He had to know the dangers that came with superhero life and that Kenny didn't want him dragged into that, didn't he?

No, Kenny had to calm down. He didn't even know if Stan knew yet. Play it cool. Play it cool.

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Kenny shook his head.

Stan slammed his hands down against his legs. It must have stung, but he showed no sign of feeling the pain. "Bullshit! Yes, you do! I saw you tonight! I followed you to that factory!" He swung his legs off the bed and jumped to his feet.

Kenny's heart stopped dead in his chest. 

Half the walk to the factory he'd felt like someone was following him, but shrugged it off as paranoia, especially after the incident with the raccoon.

He had been so, so wrong.

Stan knowing about Leo's secret was even worse than Stan figuring out he was Mysterion, by a mile.

"Stan, please, let me explain." Kenny tried to keep the desperate pleading from his voice.

"Explain!? How can you explain that?! The 'Leo' you talk about as one of the 'kindest,' and 'sweetest' people you've ever met is fucking _Professor Chaos!_ " Stan yelled, marching up into his personal space. "You're dating a supervillain and didn't even tell me!"

"It's complicated, Stan! I can't explain everything, but I promise you aren't in any danger," He promised.

Stan eyed him critically then worry mingled with the rage on his face. 

"Are you only dating him because he's making you? Is he blackmailing you?" 

Kenny choked on a laugh Then told another half lie, "What? No!" He ran his hands through his hair. "Look, dude, I'm just trying to help him. He needs _someone_ to support him."

"He's a super villain! He nearly blew up the museum last month!" 

"You think I don't know that?!" Kenny shouted. "I know he's done terrible things! I watch the news. I talk to people. _I know!_ " His shoulders slumped. "I know, man, but...he's getting better. His evil deeds aren't as evil as they use to be, because I'm helping him."

"How?" Stan took a step back, and Kenny took a breath he didn't realize he needed. 

"He needs someone there to support him. Someone to tell him it's alright and he doesn't need to act out to fix what upsets him," Kenny explained as best he could. Leo trusted him not to spill his secrets, and that was a hard-earned trust Kenny planned on keeping.

"'Acting out' is buying a sports car or getting a tattoo on your ass, _not_ covering the mayor's office in honey and unleashing bees." Stan countered. 

Kenny winced at that memory. It was the second time he'd been killed by bee stings and was no more fun than the first. On the plus side though, it did increase the bee population around the city.

He decided this was not the time to point that out.

Kenny started to rub the knuckles of his left hand with the fingers of his right, a habit he'd picked up from Leo. "Stan, this is way more complicated than you can understand right now. Trust me, under the monologues and hokey evil laughter, Leo is a good person." 

Stan gritted his teeth so hard the vein in his neck started to bulge. He squeezed his hands into fists at his side.

"I'm not letting you stay in danger." He spat.

"I'm not in danger!" Kenny threw back. "He can't hurt me! He wouldn't!"

"Yes, he would!" 

_"No, he fucking wouldn't!"_

Kenny felt his Netherborn side, the beast inside him that was Mysterion's power, start to churn and to feed on his anger. It loved this stress and rage and chaos of emotions. He needed to de-escalate the situation soon. That primal power might be useful in the middle of a life or death battle, but not an argument with his boyfriend.

He held up his hands placatingly. "Please, just, I don't know...do you want to meet him? I can set something up. You can see he's not a bad person."

"He is a supervillain, Kenny. I'm not going to ever meet him. I'm going to call the police and Freedom Pals!" He snatched his phone off the bed stand. 

Kenny’s stomach dropped to the floor. No, he could _not_ let that happen! For both his and Leo's sakes, he had to stop Stan from dialing. 

He stole a step forward, body tense and ready to pounce. Stan noticed this then scrambled to climb on the bed. He got to his feet, just as ready to leap to either side if Kenny tried anything. 

Frustration fed the Netherborn, giving it more strength to crawl farther and farther up into Kenny's conscious mind. If it took over, Kenny didn't know what it would do to get him out of the situation, but it definitely wouldn't be calmly talking things out. Kenny tried to force it back down but struggled greatly. He had to keep focused on Stan at the same time. If he put too much energy into one or the other, he would be royally screwed.

Stan pressed the nine, then went for the two ones, and Kenny pounced onto the bed. He shot himself at Stan, only for Stan to leap over him, landing in a heap on the floor at the foot of the bed. Kenny rolled over as Stan hurried to his feet. 

Stan swore as he backed towards the door, eyes watching Kenny like a hawk, and went to press the call button. 

No, Kenny had to stop him. He couldn't break his promise to Leo!

In his panic, the Netherborn took over. He felt the flush of power before he threw out his arm. His dark whip knocked the phone from Stan's hand. It snatched it from the air before throwing it against the wall.

The phone broke apart, the case and back landing near the dresser, the battery sliding under the bed, and the rest of it skidding under it to hit Stan's guitar in the corner.

Stan's mouth hung open in pure shock.

Shit, shit, SHIT! This was the worst way this could go! Now there was no way Stan _didn't_ know he was Mysterion! What was Kenny going to do? What was _Stan _going to do?__

__Once the shock wore off, Stan was going to be terrified._ _

__Kenny fought the Netherborn back down for a second, trying desperately to hold on to any rational thoughts before all his fears came flooding back in full force._ _

__No matter how much Stan idolized Mysterion, Kenny had still attacked him. They may have been dating for coming on a year now, but Kenny was still a creature of otherworldly power, granted to him by the epitome of the greatest and most primal of human fears. He wasn’t a normal person, but a monster. Stan wouldn’t want to spend his life with a monster who was only alive thanks to long dead and sleeping gods._ _

__Stan would leave him! Stan would be scared of him! Stan would hate him for this!_ _

__Kenny couldn't stand the idea of the inevitable look of fear on his boyfriend's face._ _

__He had to get out! Get away!  
Escape! Escape! Escape!_ _

__Kenny rolled to his feet and bolted towards the door. In a role reversal, it was Stan this time who made a grab for Kenny. His arms wrapped around his middle, trying to pull him to a stop. Instead, they both began to fall forward._ _

__Kenny began to let himself be pulled into the space between dimensions so he could turn into purple smoke and ghost away, but forced himself to stop. If Stan touched him while he did that, he would accidentally drag him along with him between worlds. Unlike Kenny, Stan couldn't survive in such a place._ _

__Instead, he shoved the Netherborn back down with all his might and let himself fall forward into the carpet. It smelled like dirt and body spray. He didn't even try to resist when Stan crawled off him only to straddle his back and place his hands on his shoulders._ _

__Kenny clenched his eyes shut._ _

__"Fuck," He breathed._ _

__Stan panted above him. "You're...you're Mysterion."_ _

__Kenny didn't reply more than a small nod._ _

__He took one hand from his shoulder to place on his face._ _

__"You are Mysterion." He sat back, his full weight on Kenny's lower back._ _

__"Yeah, I am," He mumbled into the carpet. Steeling himself, he asked, "Stan, can you get off of me? I promise not to try and run away," a heartbeat later, Kenny added, "or hurt you."_ _

__Stan's remaining hand slipped off his shoulders. A moment passed in silence before he swung his leg up over him. Kenny pushed himself up but didn't dare look at Stan. The terror of what he might see clung to his every thought._ _

__The two sat for untold minutes, only punctuated by Stan's 'you're Mysterion’ mumbles, until Stan finally pulled himself up. Kenny watched his back as he lumbered to the bed and sat. He took a breath then slowly stood himself._ _

__He walked over, hands in his pockets, to stand in front of him._ _

__"Stan?" He asked softly. "Are you ok?"_ _

__"You're Mysterion."_ _

__"We've established that, yeah." Kenny sighed. "Look, man, I'm so sorry about that. I panicked. It's no excuse, and I wouldn't ever do it again. Please don't," he choked on the words, "please don't be scared of me. I love you too much to hurt you."_ _

__Stan shook his head without raising to face him. "You're Mysterion...You're fucking Mysterion!" He snapped his head up and Kenny nearly stumbled back. His boyfriend wasn't scared. He wasn't surprised. He wasn't even in awe._ _

__He was annoyed._ _

__"What the fuck!?" He threw out his hands. "You're supposed to be the smart one between us! How the fuck can you be Mysterion?"_ _

__"What?" Kenny furrowed his brow. "I am smart."_ _

__Stan held his hands, palms up, and shook them side to side at him with his own eyebrows knitted together and lift half raise . "Clearly not!" He accused. "Because if you were, you would have figured it out!"_ _

__"Figured what out?" Kenny groaned. He almost preferred their heated arguing over this._ _

__"That I'm ToolShed!" Stan threw his hands up. "Good God, Kenny! I don't even change my voice like you do—which, fucking called that! I mean, fuck, dude, Call Girl figured it out a week into our relationship!"_ _

__Kenny blinked once, his brain slowly starting to process that information. He stared hard at Stan before bringing up ToolShed in his mind's eye. Maybe they did look a little similar, same nose, cheekbones, and square jaw, same toned arms, greasy head of hair, height and build, but Stan Marsh could not be ToolShed. Stan Marsh was just a normal person, while ToolShed was a super-powered hero. They had to be different people._ _

__And yet..._ _

__All at once, everything started to fit together. How many canceled dates happened at the same time an emergency called upon the Freedom Pals to jump into action? How many times did ToolShed have patrol happen whenever Stan had to 'work weird hours'? How many times had he seen that familiar look of compassion cross ToolShed’s face?_ _

__Hell, Kenny even had to remind himself to hold back any flirtatious comments he had when he was around ToolShed as Mysterion. He'd always chalked that up to just feeling comfortable around his fellow hero, but if ToolShed and Stan were the same person..._ _

__A thousand responses rushed through his head. He could turn Stan freaking out about him being a superhero back on him. He could be angry that Stan never told him. He could admit it was obvious that Stan was ToolShed._ _

__He could have said anything, but the first words to come out of his mouth were, "You got to bone Call Girl? How was that?"_ _

__Kenny felt his face flush. He opened his mouth to fumble out an apology, but Stan burst into laughter. He howled, doubling over. The tension and frustration that clung in the air began to lessen and Kenny joined in._ _

__"Ok, sorry, I don't know why I asked that," He apologized around giggles._ _

__"No, no, it's cool," Stan shook his head. "Also the answer to that is 'really good'. I can't say more, or Wendy will leak my whole search history to the world."_ _

__"Wendy's their name? I never knew that. Either way, _nice_ ," He let out a low whistle then asked, "Dude, can I sit down?"_ _

__"Yeah, go for it."_ _

__He sat next to him, forearms rested on his thighs. He chewed his lip._ _

__"So, what now?" He asked._ _

__Stan shrugged then fell backward to the mattress. "You explain what exactly your plan is with Chaos would be a good start." He pushed himself up on his elbows. "Seriously, what is up with that? It's _Professor Chaos_. How did you two even start dating? Does he...know? About you being..."_ _

__Kenny sighed then fell back himself. "He does. I know his real name. He knows mine. It's an insurance policy I offered him when we first started out. If I tell the police his identity, he tells the criminal underworld mine."_ _

__Stan cringed, looking away, and Kenny continued, "Don't worry. At this point, _I'd_ have to be the one to betray him for my secret to slip.”_ _

__“You're sure about that? How do you know he's not just waiting for the right moment?” Stan asked, setting a hand over the top of Kenny's._ _

__Kenny press his lips into a line before letting out a low breath._ _

__“He just won't. Just know that he wouldn't sell me out unless I sold out him first.”_ _

__That was the truth. They had gotten well passed the point in their relationship that that sensitive information was anything to worry. Neither would dare use it for his own gain now._ _

__Chaos would never do anything that would hurt Kenny, likewise Mysterion would never do anything that would hurt Leo._ _

__Stan opened his mouth but Kenny quickly went on, “Remember that honey thing? That's how it all started."_ _

__"I remember you just came back to life after being stung to death and then dove into the middle of his honey coating machine and got trapped with Chaos." Stan frowned. "It took us nearly two hours to break through it all and he escaped in the end."_ _

__"Yeah, well, in that two hours, Chaos and I had a long talk." Kenny shut his eyes. "And I confirmed something I already suspected: Chaos is a good person; he's just scared of what he can't control, like everyone else."_ _

__In his mind's eyes, Chaos' terrified face looked back at him from across the cockpit of the honey machine, illuminated by only the lights from the control panel._ _

__"Chaos doesn't want to hurt people. Even if his views are misguided in their execution, he really thinks what he does is for the greater good in the end."_ _

__"Even if he 'doesn't want to', he still does! He is a super _villain_ , Kenny." Stan shook his head. "Does he even actually care about you?"_ _

__Kenny turned, his eyes opening enough to show narrow slits. "Yes, he does." His voice came out darker than he meant it to, but he kept the tone as he went on, "I am important to him. He is important to me."_ _

__"I see."_ _

__Kenny turned his face toward the ceiling. "Haven't you noticed how he hasn't been as active lately? How his crimes aren't as extreme? Having a support system, he has someone to come to when things get too out of hand, when he gets scared, so he doesn't take it out on the city."_ _

__Stan thought on that a moment._ _

__"You really think you're fixing him?"_ _

__"Not fixing. It's not my job to fix anyone. I'm helping."_ _

__"Ok then." Stan breathed through his nose. "I trust you. If you think you can turn Chaos, Leo, from evil, then do what you need to. I’ll support you."_ _

__Pushing himself up, he turned to Stan, eyes wide. "You mean that? You'll keep this a secret?"_ _

__He nodded. "I promise I won't tell unless I think your life is in actual danger."_ _

__Kenny examined Stan's face for any falsehoods. He had to make sure that Stan wouldn't go straight to Doctor Timothy the second Kenny wasn't looking._ _

__When he found none, a weight fell of his shoulders._ _

__Happy tears pricked the corners of his eyes. Before Stan could react, Kenny pounced, arms wrapping around his shoulders and pinning him to the bed. Stan pulled a hand up and petted the back of his head._ _

__He pressed a kiss to his temple then muttered, "But, if he betrays you, know that I will personally strangle him myself."_ _

__There was not an ounce of hesitation in his voice. Kenny knew he meant every word of that_ _


	2. Rhino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kudos, comments, likes, reblogs, and such on this story! =D I means a lot!  
> One quick note that doesn't have much of an effect here, but I went to add an extra scene in the next chapter. That scene turned into like five more thus making chapter three WAY too long to be one chapter. So there are four chapters in this work now, not three. ^^;
> 
> or maybe there will be five. Not sure yet.
> 
> * * *
> 
> * * *

Break-ins were a common fair for ToolShed. More often than not, the second he showed up, the trespassers would panic and he'd use their confusion to capture or incapacitate them. Every now and again one would try to fight back only to have their ass handed to them.

When he received an alert that someone might have broken into the zoo during his patrol, ToolShed expected teenagers or drunk young adults. When it came to places like that, he couldn't imagine actual criminals trying to steal from there. 

He waited at the top of the clock tower in the middle of the zoos’ square, scanning the area. The alert claimed some passersby saw someone hop the fence, but they weren't sure who. Just as he reached up to turn his goggles to infrared, something caught his eye in the moonlight, near the lion enclosure. 

After dropping to the ground, he readied his screwdrivers, just in case, then moved forward.

Chaos' cape fluttered in the breeze as he leaned against the railing. He tapped out a short rhythm against the metal before he turned.

ToolShed’s hand inched towards the communicator in his ear. He should call back up. Chaos was a high-level threat. He racked his brain a moment, trying to remember who was out on patrol tonight as well.

Oh, that’s right, Mysterion...

ToolShed dropped his hand. He had accepted Kenny keeping Mysterion a secret, but he still struggled to understand his decision to be Chaos' support system. 

He even tried to view the situation through Mysterion’s eyes in an attempt to puzzle it out but got no farther than before.

Sure, ToolShed believed that people were born good, but some people, like Chaos, were so far down the path of evil, it seemed impossible for them to return.

Kenny claimed that he had no problems taking on Chaos, and vice versa. ToolShed was inclined to believe that, having seen some of the fights they’d gotten into in the time he knew they were dating--there was no love in those blows. Maybe it was a sense of jealousy, but ToolShed couldn’t bring himself to call Mysterion in.

He would deal with Chaos _himself _tonight.__

"And a good night to you too, hero." Chaos greeted, looking close to the shadow ToolShed hid in, but not quite looking at him. When ToolShed gave in and stepped into the moonlight, Chaos seemed to stiffen.

_Not who you were expecting, huh?_ ToolShed thought somewhat bitterly. 

"Oh, ho? ToolShed? What brings my favorite Home Depot-themed hero out tonight?" Chaos asked casually, leaning back against the railing. If ToolShed came too close, he could easily flip himself backward and activate his rocket boots to escape, so ToolShed stayed his distance.

"I could ask you the same." He crossed his arms.

"Is it illegal now to look at sleepin’ animals?" Chaos nodded to the lions. Only a few of them slept. The rest were prowling around the enclosure. ToolShed remembered reading somewhere that lions were nocturnal, but he didn't know if that was true or not.

"It is when the zoo is closed and you don't pay the admission fee."

Chaos shrugged then turned his back to ToolShed to gaze fully over the enclosure. 

"I hate zoos." He said suddenly. "I hate that they keep the animals in pens like this. They should be in the wild."

Did Chaos plan to release the animals? Was that why he was here? To scope out the zoo and its facilities? 

ToolShed tensed at the thought of having to detain all the wild animals if they were allowed to run amok through the city. There would be no way to return them all without hurting or traumatizing them. His stomach twisted.

"Some of these animals can't live in the wild. They're too old or hurt. They'd be killed by another animal or die of starvation," ToolShed explained. "Or poachers would see them as easy targets. It's not the best zoo, but it's better than nothing."

Chaos turned halfway around, fixing Toolshed with a probing look. ToolShed held his ground, never swaying. He couldn’t fight him, not with all these animals around that could be put in harm's way by either of the super-powered men’s attacks. For the animals' sake, he had to make sure Chaos understood what a terrible idea releasing them would be.

"Some of them could," He replied, then added after an eye roll, "And I know, but I don't think they should be kept in pens or tanks just to be gawked at. No one should be kept in a pen."

There were a bitterness and anger to his last statement that made ToolShed shiver. 

"No, you're right. Many of these animals need much bigger areas than what the zoo can afford," Toolshed relented, praying that giving Chaos and inch wouldn't mean he'd steal a mile. 

The villain hummed in thought. "They need more fundin’ then."

"Yes, they do. Most good animal and animal rights organizations do. I know that from experience." ToolShed frowned.

Chaos took a step closer, tilting his head a bit to the right. The moonlight glinted off his helmet. 

"Are you going to arrest me, ToolShed?"

"No. Not if you leave now and don't cause any harm." He found himself saying, though he didn't understand why. He should arrest him. Chaos was trespassing, along with all the other crimes he was wanted for. Letting him go was not a heroic action in the least. 

But Toolshed couldn't bring himself to feel guilty about the offer.

Chaos raised an eyebrow. 

"How generous." He looked around. "What's the catch?"

"No catch. Just get going." 

"Well, thank you! That’s real sweet of you!" A child-like innocence crept into his voice. "The full moon supposed to make people into monsters, but I guess it does the opposite for you, huh?" 

With that, he hopped back, flipped over the railing, then clicked his heels together to activate his rocket boots. He took off into the air with a burst of fire. The awake lions in the enclosure jumped at the sound and lights then scrambled to hide in their rock den. No wonder he climbed over the fence to get in.

Once again, ToolShed tried to bring up any feelings of regret or guilt for what he had just done, but for the second time found not a one.

* * *

~~~~

Mysterion rested against the side of a building, his eyes shut and breathing low. If Leo didn't know any better, he would have guessed he was asleep, but the moment he crushed a can underfoot, Mysterion's head shot up.

Leo waved at him, pulling his coat tighter around his body. The spring air still held a touch of winter coldness that Leo would rather keep out.

"Hey there!" He greeted warmly. 

Mysterion straightened up. He stood tall and proud. An air of power rolled off him. Leo wondered often if he did that intentionally, or if the cowl and mask gave him an extra confidence boost, like how his Chaos outfit did to him.

"Leo," he greeted with a sharp nod. "It's late. Why aren't you at home?"

He shrugged, not pointing out that Mysterion had been the one who texted him asking to meet up.

"Had some business."

"'Business'?" Mysterion narrowed his eyes. 

"Nothin' bad, I swear." Leo held up his hands in a settle down gesture. He knew very well never to talk about his evil schemes to Mysterion. He might mention them to Kenny, but only in the vaguest terms. Usually Kenny would try to talk him out of it, and, as of late, usually, he would succeed. 

Leo kneeled down then sat on a turned over trash can. "I went to visit the zoo."

"You told me you hate zoos." Mysterion slipped down the side of the wall to sit on the cold, dirty concrete. 

"I do." Leo laughed. "Zoos are just animal prisons." 

He waited to see if Mysterion would point out a flaw in his logic but was pleasantly surprised when he didn't.

"Then, why did you go?" Mysterion asked instead.

"I wanted to look at the lions," Leo replied. He decided not to mention he wanted to also check out how secure the zoo was and how easy it would be to unleash the animals from their pens.

"Because of your name?" Mysterion tugged his glove absentmindedly. "’Leo’ means ‘lion’ doesn't it?"

"Um, yeah! But that's not what ‘Leopold’ means." Leo laughed when Mysterion fixed him with a surprised expression. "It's Germanic or Dutch, I think? It means 'brave people'."

"Huh, I think it sort of suits you, in a way. You know what my given name means? It won't surprise you in the least." A cheeky grin formed on his face. "It means 'handsome.'"

Leo snickered then gently shoved Mysterion's shoulder. He didn't resist and fell to the side then rolled to his back. Mysterion kicked up his leg and rested it on the trash can near Leo's side.

Leo had seen how Mysterion acted towards the other heroes the few times he’d teamed up with them. He was friendly enough and joked occasionally, but he mostly kept himself cut off and reserved. He only let all of that start to slip around Leo, which was something Leo took great pride in.

"Back on topic, why did you want to go look at lions?" Mysterion questioned.

"Because I like ‘em. They're oversized kitty-cats, after all. What's not to like? I just didn't want to deal with the crowds." Leo leaned over and began to untie Mysterion's boot. "While I was there, though, something weird happened."

"Weird how? Did the animals start talking?" 

"ToolShed showed up."

Mysterion tensed for a heartbeat. If Leo hadn't been paying attention, he probably wouldn't have noticed.

"Did he?" Mysterion muttered. "Why? What happened with 'Shed?"

"Nothin’ much." Leo pulled the laces tight before he began to retie them. "He showed up. We talked a little about the zoo. He let me go without trying to arrest me."

"Interesting." Mysterion leaned back and shut his eyes. "He probably didn't want to start a fight and spook any of the animals."

"Probably." Leo tugged the bunny ears of his knot. "He seems like a nice person. I never get to interact with him without everyone else around."

Mysterion hummed. "He is. Most heroes are nice people."

Leo frowned to himself. Of course, Mysterion saw through his pry. He always did. No matter how casually or vaguely Leo asked, he could never get any information out of his boyfriend about the other heroes. He understood why Mysterion kept that information so close to his chest, but would it really hurt all that much to tell Leo just a _few_ things about them? 

"You gonna bring it up to him?" Leo asked.

"Why? How would I know what ToolShed does on his patrols?" Mysterion raised his leg to better examine his boot knot. Nodding in satisfaction, he began to stand back up. "You should head home, Leo. I should, too. Want me to walk you? My shift ended an hour ago." 

Leo snorted a laugh. "Is that a solicitation of some kind?"

Mysterion grinned a purely Kenny grin. "Only if you want it to be."

* * *

For someone whose entire evil persona was about chaos and disorder, Leo's heart was probably one of the most comforting and consistent sounds Kenny knew. 

He nestled closer, enjoying the lulling sound. Leo stroked his hair, adding an extra layer of comfort.

Since they started dating, it had become so easy for Kenny to disconnect ‘Leo’ from ‘Chaos.’ At first, it worried him that he would have a harder time fighting Chaos knowing under that mask of evil was someone he truly cared about, but that never seemed to be the case. 

Leo was Leo, and Chaos was Chaos. 

Once, Kenny asked if Leo had the same disconnect between him and Mysterion, and Leo only laughed and claimed, _"You and Mysterion are different, but not in the same way me and Chaos are."_

When he asked for an explanation, Leo shrugged and told him, _"Mysterion is something different from you. You told me yourself you can feel his power as its own being sometimes. Chaos isn't some other person in me. He's something else, and I want to keep 'him' as far away from 'me' as possible, so if anything ever goes wrong, I have a fallback."_

Kenny never asked which one, ‘Leo’ or ‘Chaos’, was supposed to be the fallback.

Kenny peeked open his eyes. Leo was doing something on his phone. It looked a little like a banking app.

"What's that?" Kenny nodded towards the phone.

"Charity," Leo replied, closing the tab and setting his phone on the side table. He snuggled down, pulling the thick covers over them.

"What for this time? Another fundraiser? Do you need help at it?"

"No, just an anonymous donation." Leo yawned. 

"That's nice of you." 

Kenny wanted to pry, find out what organization the donation was going to, but didn't want to risk it being Chaos-related. Maybe it was selfish, but when they were like this, bringing up their other lives seemed wrong. There was a line that neither of them was allowed to cross. If one of them was super then they could toe the line, but only then could their civilian lives and their super lives step on each other. 

Though, that seemed to only apply with Leo. Stan was a whole different story. In the few weeks since their reveals, life had actually become easier. No more vague lies of 'working late' or trying to find an excuse to sneak away when an alert came on their phones. 

He didn't even need to duck and hide to take off his uniform before going to crash at Stan's. Now he could just ghost in. Stan also seemed a lot less stressed about the whole ordeal, though he still nagged a little about Chaos whenever news of him came up.

Speaking of Stan, Kenny had gotten a text from him earlier but hadn't bothered to check it. 

He wondered if it had to do with what happened at the zoo tonight. It would be a lie to say he didn't wonder why ToolShed let Chaos go. It's not like Kenny made him promise to treat Chaos special or anything. In fact, it had been the opposite.

"Hey, Leo, hand me my phone, please?" Kenny asked, refusing to leave the warm sanctuary of blankets.

"Sure." Leo took his phone off the side table and handed it over. Kenny unlocked it and went to his messages.

His eyebrows shot up.

"Oh, wow," He muttered.

"What? What's wrong?" Leo frowned, trying to crank his head over to see Kenny's screen.

Kenny looked up, his eyes gleaming in the dim light from his phone.

"Well, Leo," Kenny shut off his phone with a short, contented chuckle, "it looks like Stan finally wants to meet you."

* * *

Stan had never gotten this close to Professor Chaos before. They were both ranged attackers. Neither of them did too well in hand to hand combat. Even the few times Chaos had teamed up with Freedom Pals, ToolShed had never been assigned with him. 

But now, in broad daylight, Stan stood less than two feet from Professor Chaos.

_No, he's Leo. Kenny said not to confuse the two,_ Stan reminded himself. 

Leo was a towering man, taller than Stan by a few inches and taller than Kenny by a few more. He took up a lot of space but somehow didn't come off as a threatening presence. Maybe it was how soft and round his face was.

The only deterrent that came off as at all unpleasant was a jagged scar that tore from midway through his forehead, down his eyebrow before ending at the top if his cheek. 

His scarred eye was a dull, cloudy grey-blue, unlike the bright sky-blue of his other eye. Professor Chaos had a screen built into his helmet that obscured part of his face, particularly one eye.

Stan understood why now.

Leo grinned brightly, holding out his hand. "Howdy! I'm Leo."

Stan took the hand, surprised with how strong and professional the shake was. 

"Stan. It's nice to meet you. Kenny's told me a lot." Stan said, glancing at Kenny. Kenny beamed, positive energy rolling off him in waves. 

"Likewise!" Leo dropped his hand. "I'm really happy to finally meet you, Stan. Kenny gushes about you all the time. Even on dates. So much, I think he forgets we're dating too." He laughed, but Stan heard no malice or spite behind it.

Kenny opened his mouth to defend himself when Stan stated, "Don't worry. He goes on and on about you when he's with me, too."

"You know what, just for that, you two can both pay for me." Kenny spun around on his heels then headed towards the restaurant. "This man's getting steak. Split that up how you want."

The restaurant was small and quaint and rustically-themed with an outdoor dining area. They chose a table outside to enjoy the spring sunshine. As the waiter walked off to get their drink orders, Kenny leaned back in his seat, taking the feet of the chair off the ground.

"It's such a nice day. Great weather, good company. Simply perfect." He sighed.

Stan reached over and pushed his chair back down on all fours. "Perfect until you fall backward and crack your head open."

"What are you," Kenny teased, "my third-grade teacher?"

Leo snorted and Stan just rolled his eyes. He turned to Leo instead of continuing any banter with Kenny. 

"So, Kenny says your an entrepreneur. What's that like?" 

Leo looked away shyly. "Oh, it ain't nothin’ special. I helped found a company or two when I was in school and when I made enough that I could live well, I started givin’ the rest to start-ups. So many people have amazing ideas but not the money to make them come to life."

"Oh, that's really cool. Are the companies you founded any I might have heard of?" Stan asked.

Leo’s face went red and he looked away. "Oh, ah, well, maybe?" He began to tap his knuckles together. "Um, you ever heard of 'Butters’s Kissing Company', the escort service? Um, ha-ha, that was one of them."

Stan stared, shocked. "You started an escort service when you were in college?"

"Not college, um, high school." He laughed nervously. "I, uh, I didn't actually know what escorting was then, I just, um, I knew people would pay money for friendship and fake relationships and stuff. It started as just a few girls and one guy at school, but then it...well, it got out of hand." 

"'Out of hand' is putting it lightly." Kenny rested his chin on his knuckles. "I remember hearing that your agents made five thousand a day. I nearly signed up, actually."

"N-no one made that much," Leo stammered. "Besides, it doesn’t matter anymore. I sold the company to the workers, and they've changed the whole thing."

"How?" Stan asked.

The embarrassment on Leo's face left, replaced with a proud grin. "The girls I left it with turned it into an employment agency! They even got a daycare for parents who wouldn't be able to work otherwise." 

Stan listened with interest as Leo rambled on about the other improvements the company had done since he sold it. The waiter brought out their drinks as Leo spoke about one of his first adult agents starting up her own bakery, and Stan forgot for a moment that the man in front of him was a supervillain. It almost didn't seem possible that someone who seemed to care so much for others could possibly be Professor Chaos.

"And her daughter is the cutest dang thing!" Leo was saying. "Got the same hair as her mama and the spitfire tempter of her mom. She's gonna go so many great places. I'll make sure of that myself."

"Wow," Stan whistled, "that's amazing. Kenny was right: you are a really nice person."

"Well, from what I hear, you are, too. Kenny told me you volunteer to help at the animal shelter." Leo leaned across the table, nearly knocking his glass of Sprite off.

Stan chuckled. "I wouldn't call that nice. I just really like animals is all."

Leo's expression changed suddenly into something unreadable. "I like animals, too. How do you feel about the zoo? Do you like it? Go there often?"

Kenny stiffened at the question, scooching closer to Leo. Stan wasn't sure but it looked like Kenny was trying to gently push Leo back. Did this have to do with what happened that night at the zoo between Chaos and ToolShed? No, Kenny promised him that Leo didn't know who Stan was. 

Stan took a breath.

"I think zoos have their place in the conservation of wild animals and in education, but some animals shouldn't be kept there, like whales." Stan took a drink of his Coke. "I wish our local zoo had the funding to expand and give the animals all the room and enrichment they'd ever dreamed of."

Leo leaned back, smiling. "I wish it did too."

Kenny sighed to himself then rested both his arms across the table. "Didn't someone donate a lot of money to the zoo recently? I remember reading about—" His phone began to ring. "Oh, uh, sorry, one sec." He scooted his chair back to stand then walked to the corner of the restaurant’s wooden fence to talk. 

A moment later he came rushing over. A little annoyed, he dropped his coat over the back of his chair. 

"I, um, work." He glanced at Leo. Stan felt a small pang of jealousy but swallowed it down. Leo didn't know that both of them knew Kenny's secret. 

"Work? What's wrong?" Stan asked, trying to sound less curious than he actually was.

"Teenagers fucking around,” Kenny replied in a deadpan. 

"Ah." Stan nodded. 

'Teenagers,' so he must be called to deal with Mesphesto's mutants. They weren't too difficult of a threat. Mysterion could probably beat a small batch of them quickly.

"Yeah, it shouldn't take long." He pressed a kiss to Leo's temple, then Stan's. "Order me something good and expensive, since I'm not paying," He called as he hopped the fence and darted down the street.

Leo chuckled into his hand."He's such a hard worker, but I'm glad he's gone."

Stan raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Come on, didn't you notice? Kenny was nervous." Leo frowned. "I think he didn't think we would like each other. Which is silly! I like you a whole lot." A smile spread across his face.

"Oh, yeah, I like you, too," Stan replied, though with less sincerity. With Kenny off on hero business, Stan couldn't help but be reminded just who Leo was.

If Leo noticed, he didn't have time to reply since the waiter returned to take their orders.

"Sorry for the wait," The waiter said. "What can I get you—oh, your friend's gone. Should I come back?"

"No, we'll order for him." Leo waved his hand. "A number five for him." As Leo went on to explain which sides Kenny would like, Stan scrambled to scan the menu. They'd been so busy talking, he hadn't bothered to choose an order. 

He winced. Like the homie, Midwestern charm the rest of the restaurant was trying to convey, the food was nothing less than the most stereotypical midwestern and southern foods: steaks, ribs, and chops, deep fried fish and chicken, and a variety of Tex-Mex style foods.

They did have salads, but that didn't sound all too appealing today. He'd half-lived off baked and mashed potatoes the last week before payday. Maybe—

"Uh, sir?" The waiter cut into Stan's thoughts.

"Oh, uh, sorry, sorry." Stan turned the menu. "Is it possible to get this but without the beef?" He gestured to the quesadilla and chips. 

"Of course. No trouble at all." The waiter bobbed his head. "Anything else."

"No, I'm good. Leo?" Stan asked, handing his menu over.

"Nope. Thank you, though." Leo mimicked his action. The waiter took all the menus then spun around to take their orders to the cook.

Leo tilted his head before asking, "No beef, huh? Are you a vegetarian?"

Stan laughed. "Only sometimes. The restaurants I usually go to, I make sure the meat they use comes from humane sources or only eat non-meat foods. Since I've never been here, I figured it was better safe than sorry."

He tensed, waiting for the inevitable scoff or snort, but unlike when he went out with his family, Leo didn't make any snide remark.

"Well, shucks, I wish you'd told me! I would have made sure we went to a place like that." He reached over the table and patted Stan's hand. "Sorry about that."

"No, no, it's fine." Stan shook his head but didn't take his hand from under Leo's. "Thanks for being cool about it. When I first took my parents out, my dad wouldn't shut up about me being 'so millennial’." He rolled his eyes dramatically. "I love my dad, but he's a huge asshole."

Leo winced. "My dad's an asshole, too, but I don't love him." He drew his hand back, leaving the cold to settle over Stan's skin. A heavy silence filled the air. He chewed his lip, unsure how to break it, when Leo chuckled, embarrassed.

"Sorry about that. I just...I _really_ hate that guy." Leo beat his knuckles together again. "Change of topic, what's it like working at the animal shelter?"

Back on a topic Stan comfortably knew and could discuss, they carried on in conversation until the waiter returned. He refilled out their drinks and apologize for the wait.

"It should only be a few more moments before—"

He was cut off by a car hurtling down the street. It crashed into a building. Mysterion followed along seconds afterward.

The masked hero rolled into his fall before bouncing to his feet. A flurry of swears escaped his lips as a monstrous creature came barreling down the road with its large, hairy arms raised up in rage.

The mutant threw its arms down, nearly hitting Mysterion. Mysterion dove out of the way. He pivoted on his toes to land a punch into the mutant's cheek. It toppled to the ground, blood oozing out of its nose.

"Oh, my WORD!" The waiter screamed, dropping the pitcher of Coke he brought out to refill Stan's glass.

Stan jumped to his feet, mind instantly switching to hero mode. First things first, he had to get the waiter and other restaurant goers inside, or, preferably, get them to leave the area, but as Stan, he knew that wasn't possible.

Leo, though, Leo was a problem. There wasn't quite enough chaos that Stan could easily ditch Leo and make it to his car where his hero uniform lay hidden under the back seat. 

Stan shook his head. He could deal with Leo later, right now, he had to protect the civilians.

"Everyone, get inside!" He called, pushing the waiter towards the door. The glass of the pitcher crunched underfoot.

The other restaurant goers didn't need to be told twice since most of them were already shoving their way through the only door back inside. The waiter took off not long after the last patron disappeared through the door. Stan went to grab Leo's hand, about to sling him inside, only to find Leo standing at the edge of the fence and not near their table.

"Leo!" Stan ran over. "We need to go."

Leo stared out at the battle, his lips twitching in anger. His nails dug into the stained wood of the fence. 

"Leo," Stan tugged on his sleeve. "Mysterion can handle this. He's a hero. We need to get inside."

Leo glanced back at him then sighed in defeat and nodded. Before the two could make it back to the door, something large, grey, and very angry crashed through the outdoor seating.

Stan had seen many of Mephesto’s human-animal experiments before, but this one was new. A horn protruded from the middle of its pimple-covered face. Thick, leathery hide covered its arms and back. Three-fingered hands with stumpy digits pushed it up from the ground.

"A rhino?" Stan gasped.

It shook its head before turning its attention to Stan and Leo. The mutant narrowed its eyes before pawing at the ground, preparing to charge.

"S-shit!" Stan gripped Leo's hand. As the rhino began to charge at them, he pulled them to the side. The rhino barely missed being crushed. 

Without missing a beat, he was on his feet and towing Leo down the street. They ran past Stan's car, leaving him with a wince on his face. 

He felt powerless without his tools. He had one singular screwdriver he kept hidden up his sleeve at all times, but what good would that do? If only he had his chalk line, at least then he could trip the damned thing!

"Stan! Zig-Zag! Go sideways! Rhinos can only charge in a straight line!" Leo called. 

That sounded right enough to Stan, though at that moment, he didn't have the time to think if he'd heard that logic from a reliable source or an action movie.

With a bolt of speed spurred on by adrenaline, Stan pulled them towards an alley. The rhino rushed by a second later.

Stan hauled them behind the dumpster. He pressed his back against the brick of the building, clenching Leo's hand tightly.

"I don't think it knows where we went," Leo panted. "Are you ok?"

"Fine." Stan glanced around the dirty alleyway. Piles of trash bags had been left along the walls. Many of them were torn open, probably from wild animals attempting to find a meal. Spray painted names and drawings of dicks covered the walls while boards had been nailed to the lower windows. The high wooden fence in the back had barbwire attached to the top, making a quick escape over it to the back lot beyond it nearly impossible.

"The fire escape." Stan pointed when his eyes fell on it. "If it comes back, we'll be too high to get."

Leo nodded. "Right. Good thinking, Stan."

They ran over. Leo hopped up to the first rung and began climbing. Once he was near the first landing, Stan stepped to follow.

The moment his hand touched the rung, the sound of crushing metal filled the alley. The rhino mutant shoved the dumpster aside then stamped closer. It's stumpy fingers grabbed for Stan. 

With a gasp, he jumped up, skipping the first two rungs.

"Go! Go! Go!" He screamed, but Leo had already hustled up to the first landing. Turning on his knees, Leo watched Stan climb for his life with wide eyes.

The rhino let out a roar before grabbing the ladder of the fire escape. It twisted the metal and shook it. Stan gasped, pressing close to the ladder. He was so close to the top, but with all the shaking, he wasn't sure he could make it.

At the top of the ladder, where it attached to the first-floor landing, the metal began to stretch from all the abuse. If the metal didn't give out first then the rattling bolts would. 

Leo grabbed hold of the railing before reaching out his hand.

"Stan!"

Stan swallowed, then swung his hand up to grab Leo's. Seconds after he did, the bolts finally gave way. With one last mighty pull, the rhino ripped the ladder off, smacking Stan across the knees. 

He let out a yowl of pain, wishing he had Mysterion's healing abilities. His knees weren't broken, but they weren’t well either.

Bracing himself, Leo tried to pull Stan up as the rhino chucked the ladder over its shoulder. 

It jumped to grab hold of Stan's legs. With a gasp, Stan swung his legs up as high as he could manage. When the massive creature landed, the ground shook. Leo nearly stumbled forward.

"Leo!" Stan swung his other hand up, gripping tight to Leo's wrist.

"S-Stan, I don't think I can pull you up! Not with it jumping like that!" 

Stan clenched his eyes shut. Shit. Stan couldn't do anything, but what about ToolShed?

He looked down, scanning around in vain for anything, any power tool just laying around. Even without electricity, he could still make it move at least, but, of course, there was nothing. Not even a discarded power drill.

All he had was the screwdriver up his sleeve. 

The rhino jumped again. Its fingers brushed his jeans but didn't manage to grab hold of his leg.

He had only one option. 

"Leo, please, promise me you'll let me explain and that you won't be mad at Kenny," Stan pleaded.

"What?!" Leo choked out.

This time when the rhino tried to grab Stan, he succeeded in ripping off his shoe.

"Promise me, Leo!" Stan screamed.

"Ok! Ok! I promise!" He swore. 

Steeling himself with a breath, he took one hand from Leo’s grasp. He flicked his wrist just right, sending the screwdriver from its holder at the bend of his elbow down into his hand.

"Get screwed, asshole!" Stan yelled, throwing the screwdriver down with practice precision.

The tool hit its target, the rhino's eye. The mutant screeched, doubling over to clutch its face.

The moment it stopped rattling the ground, Leo was able to pull Stan up enough he could grab the back of his shirt with his other hand and haul him to safety.

Falling to his stomach, Stan panted.

"F-fuck." He muttered. 

"That was—" Leo began, but a new screech of rage cut him off.

The rhino, blood oozing down its face, had pried out the screwdriver. It tossed it aside, stumbling until it fell over the discarded ladder.

Leo dragged Stan to his feet. "The roof!" 

Stan winced but followed Leo up the rest of the fire escape to the roof. They waited a moment before looking back down. The rhino, still shaking, stumbled back out of the alley, finally giving up the chase.

Stan slumped down and rolled up his jeans past his knee. Dark purple bruises already spread down half of his leg. He leaned back and stretched out one of his legs. A cool breeze blew through the fabric of his sock to press against his toes. At least he would have a good reason to take time off from work now.

A boot came crashing down on his chest then.

When his head stopped spinning from the impact, he looked up to see Leo's once sweet and kind face morph into one of bitter anger. 

"I knew this would happen," He growled, so low and spiteful that Stan froze. "I knew he would betray me. Everyone does sooner or later. I should have known to never trust a hero. Isn't that right, _ToolShed_." He ground his boot against Stan's sternum.

"S-Stop! Leo, you—ah!—you promised you'd listen! You promised you wouldn't be angry at Kenny!" Stan grabbed his boot, but he didn't have the energy to push him off.

Leo raised his lip in disgust.

"Then explain! Tell me why I shouldn't pick you up and dump you off the side of this building right now!" 

Stan took a shaking breath. "Kenny thinks you're a good person. I-I do, too. I don't know what in your past failed you so much that you went down this path, I really don't, but I want to help you. I want to be part of your support system, like Kenny. Please, Leo."

He offered up his hand. Without taking it, Leo stepped back off his chest. Coughing, Stan forced himself up into a sitting position. 

"What did Kenny tell you. You two aren't even dating, right? 'Stan' was just a lie he made up to bring you into the picture, isn’t he?" He fixed his scarred eye on Stan, sending shivers down his spine.

Rubbing his chest, Stan shook his head. "My name really is Stan, and Kenny and I really are dating. I didn't even know he was Mysterion until a few weeks ago. You've known longer than I have."

Leo's face switched, for just a fraction of a second, to a softer expression, before his mask of anger returned.

"How much did he tell you about me?" He demanded.

"About 'Leo' or about 'Chaos'?" Stan rolled his shoulder in its socket. "Kenny's told me a lot about Leo: how he's a painter and can play the flute and drums, how he's a kind person who likes to help people, but a shrewd and clever businessman. He's told me nothing about Chaos besides that he and Leo are the same person."

Leo considered that for a moment. He shut his eyes.

"Do the rest of the heroes know?"

"No, as far as I know, I'm the only one besides Kenny to know who you are."

"Hmm..." He opened his eyes. "You love Kenny, don't you?"

Stan nodded slowly. "Yes. He means a lot to me."

Leo crouched down. He met Stan's eyes with his own and held his gaze as he spoke.

"You love him, so you must understand how detrimental it would be to his life for news of his secret to get out."

Stan didn't look away. "I do."

Leo stared him down for a few more heartbeats before standing himself. "Alright then." He held out his hand. His expression softened into a gentle smile. "If your house is close, I think we should go there. If not, we'll go to mine. You need an ice pack and an aspirin or two as soon as possible."

* * *

Mysterion's head felt like heavy cotton from the beating he took. His limbs ached. A sharp pain pulsed from his back with every heartbeat.

At least he knew Leo and Stan were alright.

Out of the corner of his eye, during the fight, he had seen Mephesto's new rhino mutant chase after them. 

In a state of panic for their safety, he went all out with his powers, pulling the gorilla mutant he was fighting into a tight, shadowy grip until it choked on the thick smoke and passed out.

The rhino got the same treatment once Mysterion tracked it down. Looking over its body, he couldn't help but cringe. 

The wound to its eye had to be from 'Shed. A blood trail lead him to a nearby alley. Investigating the alley, he found the discarded, bloody Phillips head and Stan’s shoe next to a twisted ladder.

He turned over his shoulder, about to slap the rhino awake and demand answers, but forced himself to think rationally.

The rhino had stumbled away from the alley, so Leo and Stan must have escaped somehow. Even if it did see where they went, it would be cruel to put the afront to nature through any more pain.

Both the gorilla and the rhino were just kids, at one point. Kids with families and futures that Mephesto tricked into being human guinea pigs for his experiments. These kids didn't have a future now. Most mutants didn't live more than a year or two after their creation. 

The Netherborn began to pull back, allowing the pain of his wounds to pound back to life. His crime alert buzzed. With a spinning head, he whipped it out before slumping against the alley wall. Small bits of the crumbling brick dug into the wounds across his back.

A message from ToolShed flashed back at him from the screen.

_'Leo and I are at my house. Please come by soon. We need to talk.'_ It had said.

Mysterion didn't wait until the police and animal control showed up to leave. Timmy can bitch at him about it later. He didn't care about rules right then.

Ghosting through the crack in Stan's living room window, Mysterion made himself known by knocking over Stan's guitar that had been left against the wall. 

He was so tired and hurt so much, he barely made it back by slipping unseen through the dimensions. 

At the commotion, Stan's head appeared in the doorway. He wore a pair of shorts that Kenny was sure were actually his own. The lower half of his legs were purple and red in color. Kenny wondered what happened. Couldn't have been too bad if Stan was still able to walk, though, he figured.

"Kenny!" He rushed around the couch. He froze, eyes growing wide. "That's a lot of blood on your uniform. Is it yours?"

"H-hey, dude, don't worry about it. It's fiiiine." Kenny tried to smile but knew it came out more like a wince. He braced himself against a shelf.

Leo followed close behind Stan. He narrowed his eyes at him. Unlike Stan, Leo was used to seeing Kenny with blood across his clothing from their years as sworn enemies and paid it little mind. 

"Guess the cat's out of the bag?" Kenny joked.

"Which cat?" Leo snapped. "That Stan's Toolshed or that you told him who I was?"

Kenny blinked hard. Why were there two Leos and two Stans? He needed a nap.

"Oh. Both cats." He nodded slowly.

"Don't act like this isn't serious, Kenny!" Leo snarled. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone! Stan already told me what happened, but you could have at least told me that you blab—"

Kenny stumbled forward, holding his fingers to one of the Leos’ lips. 

"Shhhh, baby," He slurred his words together. "We can talk all about this later, but for now..." He took a step, only to fall forward to his knees. The carpet rubbed against the cuts and tender bruises on his legs, but he paid the pain no mind.

Resting his folded arms on the couch, he leaned against them.

"For now, I need to sleep. So tired..." His eyes began to slip shut.

He heard a gasp, then felt arms on his shoulder, brushing his cape from his back.

"Kenny, the fuck happened! Your back is—oh God." Stan brushed his fingers along the destroyed skin, and Kenny tensed.

"Stupid mutants got me good," He muttered. "I used up too much power stopping them so I could save you both, but..." He laughed drunkenly, "Looks like you didn't need it." 

Leo came up beside him, pushing his hood and mask back from his face before struggling with the scarf around his neck. Kenny listened to them talking. They sounded worried, but he couldn't quite figure out why.

He’s immortal. There's nothing to worry about! They both knew that, but if Stan and Leo wanted to fuss over him, he might as well let them. It could count as bonding time for them.

"Hey, do you guys like each other?" He asked as Leo pulled his cape off over his head. "Did I do good in letting you meet?"

Stan sighed, brushing Kenny’s hair from his face. 

"Yeah, Kenny, we do. You did great."

Kenny smiled at that before he rested his head on the couch again. When he woke up from his nap, they would have to celebrate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is that...Stutters I smell? =^)  
> [My writing tumblr](https://uas-fics.tumblr.com)


	3. Macaroni Noodles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter that the abuse and alcoholism content warnings come into play, be aware of that.

Kenny clung to the pillow like a child with a teddy bear. He slept on his side, snuggled under Stan's blankets. Bandages wrapped around his torso and slowly healing wounds. 

His torn bloodsoaked uniform sat in a black trash bag in the closet. There was no saving it. Kenny would need it destroyed at Freedom Pals’ HQ. The last thing anyone wanted was the police investigating why he had tossed bloody clothes into the trash can.

Stan brushed the back of his fingers against Kenny's cheek. 

This was not the first time he'd seen Mysterion beaten, bloody, and bruised, but this was the worst he'd seen without Mysterion dying moments later. And the worst he had ever seen since he learned just who Mysterion was.

The skin across his back had been clawed and ripped — deep enough in a few places that Stan could see bone peek through the gashes. Bruises covered his skin, most of them just as bad or worse than the ones Stan received.

"This is all my fault," Leo muttered from the doorway. He hugged himself tighter. "I shouldn't have run to the fence. He wouldn't have overworked his powers if he didn't think we needed saving."

Stan shook his head and stood, wincing from the dull pain in his legs. They would ache, but he knew he could work through it. 

"No, it's not your fault. It's Mephesto's. He's the one who made those things." He placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. "So, don't beat yourself up about it."

Leo smiled softly. "Thanks."

“Come on. He needs his sleep.” Stan walked past him towards the kitchen. They never did get anything to eat after all the excitement. After a moment, Leo followed him.

Stan scrounged the cabinets for something to cook that might feed himself, Leo, and Kenny. He knew Kenny would be starving when he woke up. Leo pulled out a chair and sat.

"You know, even villains hate Mephesto," Leo commented. "Really, I can't think of a single one who likes him. We all just sort of stand him for the sake of not being on his bad side."

"I’ve seen his labs." Stan shook his head, taking down two boxes of macaroni and cheese. He didn't bother to measure the water, instead just filling the pot as much as he figured would be needed.

"It is horrific what he does." He set the pot on the burner. "The man is a terrible human being."

Leo nodded. "One day, playing God like that will come back to bite him in the ass— all of them."

“We can only hope.”

They lapsed into silence as Stan busied himself. He took a few pieces of cubed steak from his fridge and began to cut them into slices. It might not be the fancy steak Kenny had ordered, but it was better than just plain macaroni and cheese.

When Stan began draining the noodles, Leo finally spoke up again.

"So, how did you and Kenny meet? Hero stuff?" He asked.

Stan looked up from the strainer. "No, at a bar, actually." He turned back to his task before continuing. "I was, uh — I had a drinking problem.”

"Really? I guess the rumors were true then," Leo said.

"Rumors?"

"’ToolShed smells like vodka if you get close.’" Leo replied matter-of-factly. "My minions told me that once."

Stan flinched. "Yeah, I guess that's probably right.” He sighed. “I nearly got kicked out of the hero union for it. It even cost me my relationship.” 

A pang hit his stomach as the note Wendy left on his bathroom mirror sprang into his mind’s eye. _“I can’t fix you — even if you wanted to be fixed.”_ it said. The break up made hero work nearly impossible. He had to either hold back swears or tears whenever Call Girl’s name came up. 

“Shouldn’t they have stuck with you and _helped_ you through that?” Leo asked. “Sounds like a bad partner to me.”

“No, I understand why Wendy did it. We weren’t right for each other then, and I kept trying to drag us both down. In the future, maybe I could ask Wendy to try again, but I doubt I ever will. It’d be weird at this point.”

“Anyway, Kenny was a regular at the bar I would go to,” he continued. “He flirted playfully with everyone, so I didn't actually think anything of it when he flirted with me."

He set the noodles aside to tend to the strips of beef. "But, then, everything with Wendy and some other shit went down in my life, and it triggered a really bad depressive episode. When I get those, I fall back into my old habits. So once when I was trying to drink the emptiness away, I asked Kenny if he was serious about his flirting and wanted to come home with me."

Stan began to pour the noodles from the strainer back into the heavy saucepan then reached for the cheese powder mix and tub of butter.

"I'm guessin’ he was," Leo commented.

"Actually, no." Stan turned with a frown. "He told me he just wanted to make sure I got home safe. Then I started crying in the middle of the street and the next thing I know I'm waking up and Kenny's picked up the trash around my house." He shook his head. "I had the first cooked meal in a week that day because of him."

Leo grinned. "That sounds like somethin’ he'd do alright."

Stan shut his eyes, smiling at himself. "Yeah, he came back every night that week to make sure I was ok. Me, a guy from the bar he barely knew. It was pretty nice to be reminded that I was cared about."

He shook off his nostalgia, opened his eyes, and returned back to his task.

"After I got out of my funk, I spent more time with him, and we started dating, then a few months later, he asked if I would mind if he started dating you, too."

"And that didn't bother you at all?" Leo asked.

Stan waved his spoon around. "Nah, not really. I was in an open relationship in college with my roommates for a while. As long as Kenny was honest with me about it, I don’t mind at all."

"Huh, that's interestin’." Leo let out a breath through his nose. "Do you want to know how Kenny and I met? Well, became friends is a better way to put it."

Stan stiffened. "You don't need to tell me just because I told you. Kenny mentioned it was a delicate subject, your past, so if you don't feel comfortable, we can talk about something else."

"No, it's alright," Leo said. "You said you wanted to be part of my support system, didn't you? So, you should probably know this."

"Let me dish us up something first." 

Stan finished preparing dinner. He went to get two plates and forks then piled the beefy macaroni and cheese onto them.

He slid one plate across to Leo.

"Thank you," Leo nodded but didn't eat. Stan swallowed a forkful before Leo continued.

"I think you probably remember my honey weapon," Leo began.

"I do," Stan nodded. "You wanted to get back at the mayor for something."

"Sort of. He had signed a bill allowing construction of an area in the older part of city. Some people I knew had honey boxes near there since the place had so many flowers and natural beehives. Construction would destroy all that, so I wanted to just...scare him a little into relentin’." Leo shrugged. "I don't like to hurt people, Stan, unless they deserve it."

Stan just made a sound of agreement to get Leo to continue. He didn't dare try to argue about the morality of his statement.

"So I made a big, ol’ machine to scare him. Paid Mephesto to clone me a bunch of bees and went out to buy yellow dye and corn syrup to fill the machine," Leo went on. "Anyway, on that day I was plannin’ it, I saw someone I didn't ever think I'd see again." Leo took a shaking breath. "My dad."

"You said earlier you hate him," Stan recalled.

"I do. He's...awful." Leo clenched his eyes shut. "He'd hit me or ground me for no reason. I'd be locked in my room for weeks, only allowed to go out to use the bathroom, eat, or go to school. I just had to sit there, kept away from everything because I made some little mistake that he would blow out of proportion. The record was for two whole months." A bitter laugh escaped his lips. "When I was taken away from my parents, I figured I'd never had to see him again. Legally, he can't get within sixty feet."

His eyes opened again, filled with memories of abuse and sorrow.

"But that day, right before my plan was about to start, I saw him. I still don't know why he was here since he and Mom moved back to Hawaii, but he was." Leo shivered. "My plan fell apart because of that. I couldn't get my mind off that he would see me back. That he would come marchin’ up and yell 'Butters! Look at what you did! You're grounded, young man! Go to your room! You're gonna get it when I get home!'" 

Stan reached across the table and set a hand on his. Leo turned his hand to lace their fingers together. Stan didn't pull away. He wasn’t sure if Leo had even noticed he did the action at all.

"So, then, I get trapped in the cockpit with Mysterion, and I panicked. I was so scared that that was my punishment and Dad would come to hurt me like he used to." Leo's eyes welled up with tears. "When Mysterion saw what was happening, he comforted me and told me, _promised me_ , that if my dad ever came close to me again, he'd personally punch his lights out." 

Leo shook his head, looking up. "I never forgot that kindness. I tracked Mysterion down after that and thanked him. We got to talkin’, and he told me about his own shitty childhood and, I don't know, we just made a connection."

Stan squeezed their joined hands. "He has a way of doing that with people. Of all the heroes I know, he's the one with the most compassion."

Leo laughed. "Y-yeah." Then he seemed to notice their hands. His cheeks turned pink as he pulled his hand away. He snatched up his fork and shoveled food into his mouth. 

Stan looked at his palm. He made a fist once then looked back up at Leo, who refused to meet his eyes.

"You can keep holding my hand if it makes you feel better," he offered with his hand set palm side up. 

Leo swallowed his mouthful and eyed his hand. His gaze flicked back up to Stan, who nodded before he switched his fork to his other hand and set his palm on top of Stan's.

His fingers brushed the skin of Stan’s wrist. They were more calloused than a business man’s hand had any right to be, though Stan’s were much worse.

“Stan, I’m sorry,” Leo said suddenly. “I’m sorry I stepped on you back on the roof. I can’t say I didn’t mean harm, because I really did, but, well, I acted without listenin’ to you like I promised I would.”

Stan bit down on his tongue to stop the ‘it’s ok’ that pressed against his teeth. That was not ‘ok’. His chest still hurt a little from that.

Instead, he replied, “I understand why you did it. You thought Kenny broke your trust and acted out of anger.”

“Yeah,” Leo sighed, “but that doesn’t mean I ain’t sorry for it now. Could you forgive me?”

He relented, “Yeah, I can. Just don’t do it again—at least, not when I’m out of the uniform.” Stan tacked on that last part as a joke, though Leo’s face didn’t look amused.

“Alright. I promise. I won’t hurt you when you’re not ‘ToolShed’.” 

His tone was completely serious. ‘Stan’ was safe from ‘Chaos,’ but that safety did not extend to ‘ToolShed.’

It was odd to Stan. He knew Kenny liked to think Mysterion was, in a way, a different person from him. From what he was told, Leo felt the same way towards Chaos.

Stan and ToolShed did not have that same disconnect. They were one and the same. The idea that wearing his uniform or using his powers openly gave his persona a life of his own was too foreign to Stan.

“Thank you,” Stan replied, unsure what else to say. After a beat, he asked, “Leo, can I ask you a question?”

Leo nodded. “Yeah, sure, go ahead.”

“Would you really have outed Kenny to the criminal underworld?” He tensed. Did he even want to know the answer to this, or would it cause him more undue worry?

A breath escaped Leo’s lips. He scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. 

“No, I wouldn't,” He admitted after a time. “Kenny and I are too deep into this for me to throw him under the bus like that. Even if he betrayed me, I wouldn’t be able to.” He shook his head. “I know how villains think. The second that information got out to them, Kenny would be imprisoned and tortured. I could never do that to him.”

Stan relaxed. “Thank you. That’s good to hear.” He slid his hand back a little so he could wrap his fingers around Leo’s. “What about me? Will you keep my secret?”

Leo smiled softly. He raised his finger to his lips. “You’re still on a trial basis, but, for now, mums the word for both of us.”

Stan wanted to ask how long the ‘trial basis’ would last, but held back. Somehow he had a feeling that it wouldn’t be too long at all.

* * *

Kenny woke up to the sound of music. He blinked hard as a slant of sunlight hit his face. He reached to grab the pillow from under his head to pull over his eyes. Only, when he did, he found something restricting around his chest. 

He pushed himself up and looked at the bandages across his torso. 

"Oh, right," He muttered, picking at them. He winced as he recalled the night before. Where Stan and Leo still around? Had Leo gone home? Where was his uniform?

Kenny swung his legs off the bed and stood. His body popped and snapped like a roll of bubble wrap. Rolling his bare shoulders, Kenny followed the music down the hall. He paused at the kitchen then slipped inside there first.

Healing took a lot out him, and his stomach refused to be ignored when the prospect of food was within reach.

Opening the refrigerator, Kenny found a pan of macaroni and cheese. Without thinking twice, he pulled the cold pan out. Using the serving spoon left on the counter, he shoved a few spoonfuls into his mouth.

Sighing contently, Kenny took the pan with him to find the source of the music.

Stan sat on one end of the couch, his attention on Leo. Stan's guitar was in Leo's hands as he picked a short riff.

"See? I told you, anyone can play 'Smoke On The Water.'" Stan smiled. "Just, here..." he moved Leo's hands on the neck, "there, perfect."

"Wow, guess I getta add guitar to instruments I know how to play, huh?" Leo laughed, playing the riff again.

Seeing his chance to cut in, Kenny leaned over the back of the couch in between the two of them and commented around a mouth of macaroni noodles, "I can only play two instruments, the recorder and the skin flute. Guess which one I'm better at." 

"Kenny!" His boyfriends gasped.

"That's me." Kenny ate another spoonful. 

"Dude, are you ok? You looked bad yesterday." Stan crawled on his knees. He set a hand gently across his back.

"Never better." Kenny set the nearly empty pan down on the floor. "Sorry for worrying you two. I went a little overboard taking down those mutants, and it took too much out of me to do a quick heal.”

Leo shook his head as he set the guitar aside. "We're just glad you're ok."

Kenny hopped over the back of the couch, landing between them. The velvet-like fabric of the couch rubbed comfortably against his legs.

"Guess we have to talk now." He smiled apologetically at Leo. "Sorry I didn't tell you Stan figured it out. I didn't want you worrying or trying to investigate him. I couldn't have him in danger if you found out who he was and, uh, you know, was a little miffed about it."

Leo waved his hand. "No, it's ok. Stan explained everything to me." He held his arms out for a hug, which Kenny quickly gave. After a heartbeat, he turned, still half in Leo's arms, and pulled Stan into the hug as well.

Stan chuckled but didn't resist, instead wrapping his arms around them both.

Kenny felt incredibly comfortable with their warm arms wrapped around him. If this was how they would react to him getting hurt without dying, maybe the pain was worth it.

When they all pulled apart, Kenny felt a whimper creep up his throat. He forced it down as Leo stood. 

"I actually need to get to work. I've been avoiding it until you woke up. Are you going to be ok?" He asked.

Kenny nodded. "I've taken way worse than that plenty of times. A few of them from you, actually."

Leo pressed a kiss to his lips. Kenny raised his arms to wrap around his neck, pulling him closer.

When he took a step away, Leo looked reluctant, which was Kenny's plan. As selfish as it might be, he wanted his boys to spend more time together with him. Their plans yesterday were such a disaster, it was only fair, Kenny reasoned.

Unfortunately, Leo shook his reluctance off.

"Will you be here tonight? May I come back?" Leo asked.

Kenny opened his mouth, but Stan beat him to it. "You can come by whenever, Leo. Even if Kenny has to head to his apartment."

Kenny raised an eyebrow with a knowing smirk on his face. From the stories Stan told to him, Stan fell fast and he fell _hard_. Clearly, those stories were not exaggerations.

Seeing his smirk, Stan pushed him over. 

"Seriously, if you ever need to talk, dude, you can call or drop by," Stan told Leo with a smile.

Leo paused, then grinned. "That sounds swell, Stan! I'll drop by tonight, to check up on you both!"

The moment the front door shut, Kenny leaned against Stan's shoulder and teased in a sing-song voice, "You like him!"

Stan didn't argue. Instead, he looked down at his lap. "I don't know. He's...interesting. I do think you're right. Leo is a good person and doesn't want to hurt people. The world and his family failed him, so he feels the only way he can help is to do things his own way."

"'Family'?" Kenny echoed. "Did he tell you about...him?"

"His dad?" Stan nodded. "Yeah, he did, after I told him how we met."

Kenny raised both his eyebrows. Stan didn't like to talk much about that time in his life: His grandfather had recently passed, he and Wendy broke up, his finances were in rough shape, and his dad’s mocking for his life choices had been eating at him worse than ever. It all culminated with his depression kicking into high gear and dragging him down.

He remembered when Stan responded to his flirting by drunkenly grabbing his wrist and dragging him towards the bar door, slurring, _"Let's see whatcha got, lover boy."_

They made all of a block and a half when Stan suddenly broke down into tears and sobbed out all his problems to Kenny. He let Stan cry on his shoulders, then, after Stan vomited up the solitary cup of noodles in his stomach, Kenny took him home. 

It probably wasn't Kenny's place to do more than get Stan to his couch, but something inside him took pity on Stan and he stayed around to make sure he would be alright anyway.

Kenny considered it one of his better knee-jerk decisions.

"Did you tell him that to get him to trust you?" Kenny asked.

He raised a shoulder. "I don't know. He asked how we met, and it just tumbled out." Stan sighed. "Kenny, if you feel like you can, answer me this. Is what Leo said about his dad, well, is it true?"

"Yeah," Kenny nodded his head. "When Leo told me his full name, I went and check the police records. I loved him, but I still didn't fully trust him, at the time, you know? Well, I found what I was looking for: Stephen and Linda Stotch were both charged with physical child abuse as well as several other charges of child neglect and endangerment around the time Leo was sixteen. From what I know, he was taken away to live in foster care until he aged out."

"I see," Stan breathed. "And you're only telling me this in detail now because you know I'll go look it up myself, right?"

Kenny smiled softly. "Maybe a little.” His face fell. “Seeing or reading about the horrors done by supervillains, well, you'd think it would numb you to the ones done by normal people, but it really doesn't. It just makes you more sickened."

He took a breath, then slung his arm over Stan's shoulders. "But it'll be alright now. Leo's got two good buddies to support him through thick and thin."

"Yeah, I guess so." Stan slipped an arm around his waist and half-hugged him, nuzzling into his hair. 

"Hey, Kenny, you know you're only in your underwear, right?" Stan asked suddenly.

Kenny looked down at his near nakedness then nodded. "I know, and I don't plan on changing that fact."

Stan rolled his eyes. "Just making sure."

* * *

Numbers had never been a confusing topic for Leo. At their basic forms, they were consistent and made sense. One plus one would always equal two. No number could be divided by zero. An even number multiplied by another even number would be even as well.

Numbers just made sense to Leo, but not so much for Dougie.

Dougie scratched his red curls, staring down at the paper. He tapped his glasses with his pencil.

“Is the answer...forty-eight?” He asked.

Leo chuckled. “Close? It’s two-hundred-fifty-three.”

Dougie groaned, and Leo patted his shoulder. Looking over Dougie’s math, Leo tried to find the point where he messed up. He took the pencil.

“Look, you didn’t work these fractions out correctly. That’s where the problem is.” Leo circled the incorrect fraction then began to scribble the correction under Dougie’s work.

“When do I even need math? I’m going to be a reporter!” Dougie muttered.

“I’m sure reporters need math sometimes.” Leo set the pencil down. “Besides, if reporters don’t, then generals do.”

Dougie sighed. “Yeah, guess so.” 

The doorbell rang. 

Leo hopped to his feet, grinning. Dougie raised an eyebrow but didn’t have time to comment. Leo had already left the room.

Two months had passed since the incident with the rhino mutant. In that time, Stan had been coming over often to teach him guitar. 

Usually, after their lesson, they would go out. Leo wasn’t sure if Stan saw this as a date. He hoped he did since that was how Leo had been seeing it.

Stan shouldered his guitar in its case when Leo opened the door. With summer just around the bend, his clothes were a lightweight shirt and shorts. Though the bruises from the ladder had long since healed, a few new ones dotted across his legs.

One bruise, in particular, was shaped very much like a hand, right above his ankle. Probably from one of the Raisins’ Girls. ToolShed had gotten into a nasty fight with the group of womanly criminals last week. 

Leo wanted to confirm his theory but held his tongue. Stan might not like knowing that Leo had been keeping tabs on his hero activities. Leo wasn’t keeping an eye on him for any _bad_ reason. He just wanted to make sure none of his fellow villains played too tough with his newest friend and crush. 

“Hey, dude, sorry I’m late.” Stan narrowed his eyes. “ _Someone_ went through and cleared away all the street signs and road lines. Traffic is a mess.”

Leo hummed. “Oh, is that what happened? Seems pretty dastardly, huh? Maybe people should learn not to park in no-parking zones and box other people in.”

Stan rolled his eyes. “ That’s why you did that? That’s pretty petty, dude.”

“It’s not petty. I was late for a meet up with some old friends.” Leo frowned, then added a beat later, “Not that I would know anything about how the road lines went missing. That’s a total mystery to me.”

Stan seemed to hold back another comment before deciding to let the topic drop. Unlike Kenny, who would work to keep any villain business out of their civilian conversations, Stan had no problem calling out Leo for Chaos’ doings.

“You ready for your lesson?” Stan asked instead, raising his shoulder with the strap over it. 

“Heck yeah! I’ve been praticin’ a real lot since last time.” Leo beamed while ushering Stan through the door. 

Stan nodded. “Yeah, you sent me that recording on Tuesday. You’re really getting better.”

When they entered the living room, Dougie had already packed up his things. He looked up at Leo, before moving to stare Stan. He furrowed his brow. Leo tensed.

While Chaos and ToolShed never had any one-on-one battles, General Disarray and ToolShed had many. Leo glanced at Stan out of the corner of his eye, wondering if he recognized Dougie as well. 

“Um, hi,” Dougie waved slightly then put his last book back in his bag. “Are you...Stan? ”

Of course, Dougie would make the connection with Leo's excitement about his visitor and the Stan that Leo had been gushing about. Dougie was sharp like that, which was why he made a perfect general.

“Yeah, hey.” Stan took a few steps forward, holding out his hand. 

“Dougie.” Dougie took his hand. “Sorry I can’t stay and chat.” He shouldered his backpack up. “I’m meeting up with some friends.”

“It was nice to meet you.” Stan stepped aside to let Dougie by.

When Dougie passed Leo, he glanced up at him with his eyebrows knit together behind his glasses. Leo just smiled and shrugged. Hopefully, he wouldn’t get a text later asking for confirmation on Stan’s double identity. Leo didn't like lying to his second in command, but he promised to keep Stan's secret.

Dougie suspected Kenny might be more than he seems already. Thanks to personality differences between Kenny and Mysterion, Dougie hadn't quite gotten that far into figure it out. Stan, on the other hand, looked and acted a lot more like ToolShed.

Honestly, it still baffled Leo how Kenny hadn't seen it.

The front door shut as Leo wandered towards the couch.

“Dougie’s an old friend. I was helping him with his homework.” 

“That’s General Disarray.” Stan frowned as he took a seat. “I knew he was young, but, geez, he’s practically a baby.”

Leo snorted. “I don’t know about Disarray, but Dougie is a junior in college, only five years younger than me. He just has a young face is all.”

“A junior? Ok, he’s a toddler then.” Stan set his guitar in his lap. “A toddler who nearly shoved me into a pit of molten rock once.” 

“I heard Disarray still feels bad about that. He didn’t want to kill you,” Leo said.

Neither Disarray or Chaos had ever actually killed anyone permanently. They didn’t ever plan to either. Dougie had told him in that rush of emotion, pushing ToolShed back was the first thing his brain came up with. If he wasn’t fighting for his life, he wouldn’t have done it.

“Feel free to tell him he can apologize for that at any time.” Stan unzipped the case. “Go grab your instrument so we can get started.”

The lesson lasted an hour or so before dissolving into idle chit-chat.

Stan rested against the arm of the couch, plucking his guitar strings absentmindedly. His hands were masterful, and Leo couldn’t help but be in awe. When Leo played, he still had to look down at his fingers to make sure they were in the right place, but Stan could play with his eyes shut. 

For a moment, Leo considered fishing out his flute. It was somewhere in the back of one of his closets. Would Stan be impressed by that or would he think Leo was a dork? Could he even play the flute well anymore? It had been years since he last touched it.

“Leo,” Stan cut into his thoughts, “I should head out.” 

“Oh, already?” He looked at his phone for the time. “Do you want to go grab something to eat first?”

Stan shook his head. “No, with how the traffic looks, if I don’t leave now, there is no way I’m getting home before midnight.”

A pang of guilt hit Leo’s stomach. When he sent his minions to powerwash and cover the signs and road lines, it seemed like such a mild crime. It’s not like anyone would be really hurt—just inconvenienced. He had even given his non-Chaos employees the day off so they wouldn’t be bothered.

Leo lunged forward, grabbing Stan’s wrist.

“You can stay here if you want. Stay the night!” He blurted out. 

Stan stared down at his wrist, his mouth opening once, then shutting, before opening again.

“How do you mean ‘stay the night’?” he asked finally.

Leo’s cheeks began to burn. He didn’t know how to answer. Just because he had a crush on Stan, did not mean the reverse was true. For all he knew, Stan’s friendship was given to him because he wanted to protect Kenny. 

He prayed that wasn’t true, though. 

Leo swallowed. “It means whatever you want it to.”

Stan looked into his face, expressionless. Leo wanted to look away. Instead of that, he channeled some of his confidence from Chaos to help him hold his ground.

With a flick of his wrist, Stan pulled his arm out of Leo’s grasp. Leo pulled his hand back, looking away. 

Great, he fucked up. As he thought, Stan was only doing this for Kenny’s sake. 

Maybe he should consider himself lucky. He’s clicked this closely with only a few people in his life, and the fact most of them had clicked back was a blessing in and of itself. 

Stan set his guitar off the side of the couch then scooted over. He pressed his hand on the other arm, pinning Leo in. 

A look of nervous indecision crossed his face. He chewed his lip a moment then finally let out a sigh. His breath ghosted across Leo’s face. It smelled like he’d forgotten to brush, but Leo didn’t mention it.  
Stan lowered himself down farther, their faces barely an inch apart. His eyes flicked to Leo, who gave the smallest nod, then he closed the gap. 

Fireworks went off in Leo’s head. Stan liked him back. This was the best news! With any luck, this was also the answer to his offer to stay the night. Leo’s ears began to burn as the fantasy of what the night could entail jumped into his mind’s eye.

He forced the thoughts away, trying to focus solely on the hear and now.

Stan’s lips were sweet and gentle, and it took most of Leo’s control not to greedily try to hold him closer. He did, however, raise a hand to his cheek, brushing along his sideburns with his fingertips.

Just as he was really starting to enjoy the feeling of their lip’s contact, Stan pulled away.

“That was good,” Leo smiled, “really good.”

Stan winced. Leo’s smile fell from his face.

“What? Didn’t you like it?” 

“I feel bad,” Stan muttered. “I feel really, really bad.”

“W-why?” Leo's shoulders slumped. The kiss had been great for Stan, too, hadn’t it? No one else Leo had ever kissed complained he was a bad kisser. A few of them even told him he had a knack for it!

“Because I like you,” Stad sighed, “like, a lot. I know I shouldn’t. You do terrible things. You break the law. Maybe Kenny can see you as two people, but I can’t. You’re one person to me. One sweet, kind person who also does bad things.”

“Oh,” Leo bit down on his lip a moment, “I’m...I’m sorry, Stan.” He shook his head. “You don’t understand, though. Chaos, I _need_ him. Without him, I feel powerless when everything goes wrong. He’s the ‘me' who fixes the problems I can’t, even if he has to break the law to do it. _I_ can’t do that. _Leo_ can’t do that.”

Stan fell back, his knees brushing Leo’s leg. “You’re right. I don’t understand. I doubt I ever could.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Leo, is there anything Kenny and I could ever do to help you get to a point where you don’t need Chaos? Or are we both wasting our time even trying?”

Leo flinched back. That question was heavy. His heart pounded in his ears. 

He wanted to drop the topic like hot coals. If it was Kenny here, the topic wouldn’t have even come up in the first place.

But this isn’t Kenny. This is Stan. Stan held him completely accountable, no matter which persona he was. 

“I...I don’t...” Leo trailed off. “Maybe?” He heaved a sigh. “Stan, listen, being with Kenny already _has_ lessen my, um, dependency on Chaos, but, oh, gosh, this is hard to explain.” He bumped his knuckles together. “I guess, there is a possibility that one day I won’t need Chaos anymore. That I can handle my problems with the world on my own, but I don’t know when that would be.” 

Where those the words he needed to say? God, he hoped so.

Stan looked down at his hands then back up at Leo. “You won’t need to handle your problems on your own, you know. We’re here to help you with that. That’s the whole point of a support system, to help you with that weight on your shoulders.”

Leo looked up at him in surprise, then looked down at his hands. His head swirled with emotions. 

He wanted this to stop. This wasn’t a problem Leo could fight, but he didn’t want Chaos to fight this either.

He knew the Chaos Solution would involve being coy and cruel and dancing around the topic until Stan got annoyed with him and stormed out. The Chaos Solution would only make things worse.

He clenched his hands into fists. 

No, no, that was the whole problem wasn’t it? Stan had already torn back the curtain on that. 

‘Leo’ and ‘Chaos’ weren’t two different people. They were both him. Leopold Stotch and Professor Chaos were one and the same. Completely and totally.

A shudder ran through his body and a lump crawled up his throat.

It felt wrong to say that after all these years of avoiding it. Chaos, in the end, was just a mask. Leo hid behind the helmet and cape like a blanket from the world that wanted to hurt him. Chaos couldn’t be hurt. Chaos was strong and righteous, even if the world didn’t understand his way of thinking.

If Leo took off the mask, he would be defenseless. No better than a stray cat fighting a steamroller. The world would flatten him, and there would be nothing Leo could do about it.

He truly did need Chaos to feel safe — that was a fact.

A warm hand fell on his forearm. Leo jerked his head up then felt the tears fall off his cheeks onto his fists. 

Stan stared at him, eyes sparking with worry.

“Leo, are you ok?” He squeezed. 

His touch was too reassuring and kind. Leo hated it. He hated that he felt this way, so raw and scared. 

Worst of all, this was all his fault. He let Stan in, all the while stupidly thinking that he could bring him as much happiness as Kenny had. Why was he so stupid like that? How pathetic...

No, not pathetic.

Greedy. 

Leo wanted more than he deserved. The World, God, Fate, whatever controlled the universe, made it very clear he didn’t deserve affection. Not from his parents, not from Kenny, not from Stan. 

He was a bad and broken person, and bad and broken people didn't deserve to be _loved_ by anyone.

All of his feelings towards Stan and all of his wasted time building a relationship with Kenny were just salt in the wound.

“G-Get out,” Leo choked through the clenching in his throat. “Leave now and don’t ever try to talk to me again.”

Stan withdrew his hand, frowning. “Leo, I’m sorry that—”

“I said _get out_!” Leo shouted, nostrils flaring. He scrambled to his feet. If he was taller than Stan, then he had more power, and that power would keep him safe. 

“Get the fuck out of my house and my life. Right now!” He shouted.

Stan’s face fell then twisted to confusion, before morphing into anger. Rolling off the couch, he got to his feet. 

“Fine.” He growled. Barely restrained rage punctuated the word as he grabbed his guitar case and instrument. Without placing it back inside the safety of its case, Stan stormed out.

Leo’s body remained tense until he heard the door slam shut. He slumped back down on the couch, feeling more scared and vulnerable than he had in a long time.

* * *

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter. :^)


	4. Fate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, the actual last chapter. Enjoy~ <3

* * *

* * *

He didn’t even realize where his feet had brought him until his hand touched the door.

Stan flinched back and looked up at the old, flickering neon sign. The curves of the Coors can it depicted threw a cast of yellow light over his face.

It had been nearly a year since this happened last.

Stan winced, backing away from the brick building. He hoped no one he knew saw him through the wide frosted windows. The last thing he needed was a rumor that he’d fallen off the wagon floating around.

Leo did more damage than he thought.

_Leo..._

Shaking his head, Stan turned on his heels and quickly walked away. He focused on the sound of his shoes against the sidewalk. 

No, no, this wasn’t Stan's fault. All he did was ask a simple question. Leo was the one who flipped out on him. Why should Stan even try to help him if he didn’t want to help himself? Why waste his time?

His stomach clenched. He knew why.

It was the same reason Kenny wasted his time trying to help Stan.

He saw all he could be if he learned to let go of the anchor dragging him down.

With a groan, Stan marched to a bench outside an abandoned store and sat.

After he left Leo's, it had taken nearly three hours to get home. The whole way, cars illegally lined the roadside after the drivers decided to just give up and walked. 

The car ride home had done nothing to soothe his anger, and the thought of being cooped up in his house seemed wholly unappealing, so instead, he turned and walked.

He even took his guitar with him without thinking. 

Pulling the instrument into his lap, he ran his fingers over the zipper of the case. These last months had been a work out for the old Gibson. It wasn’t that he didn’t play it at all before meeting Leo, but it had been the same songs over and over. Since he started giving Leo lessons, the motivation to learn new songs returned.

He leaned his head back to stare at the sky. The light pollution made it impossible to see the stars, so instead, he followed they helicopters as the zigzagged across the sky. More than a few of them had to be life flights from all the accidents.

It was hard to believe that all of this happened because one person felt spat and wanted to get revenge. It wasn’t fair, but then, how was it fair Leo was late because of some irresponsible driver parked in a no parking zone?

His eyes slipped shut.

He still couldn’t wrap his mind around Leo’s apparent duality. Chaos couldn’t be Leo, but he was; vice versa Leo couldn’t be Chaos, but he was. They were the same person, no matter what anyone says. It didn't make sense.

A pair of warm lips on his forehead pulled him out of his thoughts. His eyes flashed open. He bolted up, nearly colliding forehead to forehead with his mystery kisser.

Mysterion looked at him with an amused expression, lips turning up a fraction.

“Hey there, handsome. You looked like you needed a pick-me-up.” He purred then jumped gracefully over the back of the bench to sit beside him.

Stan looked over his shoulder then around behind Mysterion.

“Don’t worry, no one’s around.” Mysterion scooted closer, placing a hand on his knee. “I checked when I started following you.”

“Following me?” Stan frowned.

“Payback for last time.” Mysterion pushed his shoulder playfully. “Just kidding. I saw you walked towards the old bar and got worried. Is something wrong? Are you feeling ok?”

Mysterion’s look was probing and concerned. Of course, he had every right to be.

Stan shook his head. “It’s fine. Old habits. I just...Leo and I got into a...fight? I think it was a fight? He started shouting like it was.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing much. I went over to his house, we jammed for a while, then I-I—” Stan blew a breath out. “I kissed him.”

“Kissed him?” Mysterion tilted his head to the side. 

“Yeah, and, wow, dude, it was good.” He ran his hands through his hair, the memory of the kiss playing on his lips. 

The kiss had sent his brain to cloud nine for the few seconds of contact. When Leo touched his face during it, Stan wanted to melt into him then and there. 

Looking back, maybe he should have given into his desires. None of this would have happened if they just made out. He would definitely be having a better night than this, that’s for sure.

“If it was good, then why are you outside looking blue?” Mysterion sighed. “Is it because you feel guilty?”

Stan jerked back. “How did you—”

“That’s how I felt the first time,” Mysterion admitted with a shrug. “I thought to myself, ‘he’s a supervillain. He’s evil, but I like kissing him. I shouldn’t be enjoying doing this!’”

Stan looked away. Those were exactly his thoughts during that moment.

“Yeah, and I told him that. Well, that I felt bad about liking him. I asked him if he would ever be able to stop being Chaos.” Stan set his guitar against the seat of the bench. “Then he said that he couldn’t get rid of Chaos, that he needed him to feel safe and strong. I told him that he didn’t need Chaos if he had me— us — with him, and he just kind of imploded. I don’t get what I did wrong.” 

Mysterion’s expression turned unreadable. 

Great, he had Mysterion _and_ Leo mad at him. 

No, not Mysterion. _Kenny_. He was sick of thinking of any of them as two different people.

Stan held his gaze, half hoping to find some explanation to Leo’s anger there. After a long silence, Kenny leaned forward, resting his head on Stan’s shoulder, then wrapped his arms around him. He could feel the thickness of his gloves through the fabric of his shirt. 

Stan glanced around once more before he raised his hand and rubbed his back. 

“Stan, you understand Chaos is a crutch for him, right? He needs him to feel safe and in control, in a way,” Kenny mumbled into his neck.

“Yeah, I’m kind of getting that.” Stan leaned his cheek against his hood. “But does he need the crutch forever?”

“I...I don’t know.” Kenny sighed. “But, I think — fuck, Stan,” He pushed himself away enough to looked up at his boyfriend, “do you think I’m selfish? Do you think me treating Leo and Chaos like two different sides is actually helping him? He’s doing better, but what if he plateaued?”

Stan pressed his lips into a line. What could he possibly say to that? A yes wouldn't feel like the whole truth but a no would crush Kenny’s heart. 

He kissed his temple.

“I don't know, man. I'm not a psychologist, and I can't tell the future. I think you are good for him. This whole erasing the street signs thing was the worst he's done in a while, and I don't think he meant it to get this bad.”

Kenny mulled over that a moment before pulling him into a bone crushing hug.

He moved back then rolled off the bench to his feet in a much more dramatic style than necessary. Stan snorted a laugh at his antics.

“I think I'm going to go find Leo and talk to him. Make sure he's ok.” Kenny readjusted his hood and mask. “If you’ll be alright, that is.”

Stan stood as well. “I’m fine. I should head back now anyway.”

Shouldering his case on, Stan took a breath so he could ask, “Kenny, do me a favor. When you see Leo, tell him...” Here he pause to think about his words before continuing, “tell him I’m sorry for whatever I said that upset him. I want to see him again and talk this out. I’m a little too deep into this relationship with him to let it go like this.”

Kenny smiled. “I will. Text me when you get to your place.”

“Text? You’re on patrol. We’re not allowed to have our normal phones.” Stan raised an eyebrow. Of everyone, Kenny was one of the few heroes most able to follow that rule, having never really owned a smartphone growing up.

“Not for long.” Kenny smiled slyly, then patted his stomach. “I _think_ I’m coming down with something. Stomach flu, probably. Maybe some bad takeout. Been puking my guts out all night. Guess my back up for tonight is going to have to cover for me.” He doubled over to the side and fake gagged.

Stan wracked his brain a moment, making sure _he_ wasn’t the backup, before remembering that tonight the duty fell on Mosquito. The insect hero would probably complain tomorrow about having his sleep interrupted to take on patrol. Luckily, Stan wasn't assigned with Mosquito anytime soon, so that wasn't his problem.

“Don’t worry, I know an old family secret to cure a stomach bug,” Stan stepped closer. “A kiss on the cheek and a bottle of flat sprite. I’ll make sure to pick you up some on my way.” 

“Well, can I have the kiss now? I think that's really all I need.” Kenny set his hands on Stan’s hips. Stan chuckled before pressing his lips on his warm freckled cheek.

“There.” Stan rested their foreheads together. 

“Thanks, I’m already feeling better.”

* * *

Mysterion was not at all surprised to find Chaos in the back of the abandoned factory, standing in front of a large whiteboard. Multi-Colored notes and doodles covered the board's surface. Many of the notes and drawings had been crossed out or had arrows leading to new ideas.

Chaos didn’t notice Mysterion was there, so the hero took advantage of his inventiveness to stand on the edge of the light. He watched him pace back and forth. 

Chaos muttered to himself about car wax before spinning to the board. He crossed out a red note with a black marker before drawing an arrow to an illustration of a roller coaster.

Mysterion couldn’t make hide nor hair of any of it.

“Hamburgers, that ain’t gonna work either...” Chaos grumbled, throwing the marker to the ground. The marker rolled right to Mysterion, who stepped out and intercepted it with his boot.

Chaos furrowed his brow and looked up from the marker towards the boot’s owner. Mysterion raised an eyebrow.

“You’re a busy bee tonight, Chaos.” Mysterion bent down to take the marker in his hand. 

He held it out, and Chaos snatched it from his grasp. “Go away. I don’t want to deal with you right now, Kenny.” He spun back towards the whiteboard.

Mysterion set his lips into a line. Chaos never called him ‘Kenny’ when he was in the uniform. That just wasn’t done. Chaos was letting the lines cross, and that made him nervous. 

Had Stan actually gotten to him that badly? On the one hand, that meant Leo thought highly of Stan. On the other, that meant this conversation was going to be a bit more difficult.

“Chaos, we need to talk.” Mysterion kept an unusual amount of authority in his voice. He never came off this demanding when they were alone. Usually, it was light banter and jabs.

Chaos paused a moment and then looked over his shoulder. “No.” He replied in a deadpan. 

“Unless you want a fight, leave me alone. I can call the police and tell them you're trespassing.” Without waiting for a reply back he continued on his work.

Well, if the _Mysterion_ way wasn’t going to work...

Mysterion reached up and pushed back his hood, shaking his hair back into place, then pulled off his mask. 

He held up his hands in defeat. “Alright, alright, gonna leave the irony of that last comment alone.” Kenny pocketed his mask then walked idly around in front of Chaos. With a grin, he set his forearms over his shoulders.

Chaos blinked and moved his head back a fraction in surprise. 

While Mysterion would have shrugged and left Chaos to himself, Kenny wasn’t about to leave him alone when he knew he felt like shit.

“You know what? If you were a candy, you’d be a Hershey's kiss. Because your sweet and,” Kenny pecked a kiss to his nose, “I like kissing you.”

“What are you doing?” Chaos demanded. “Get off!” He shoved him back. Kenny stumbled back with a frown.

“Generally, when your boyfriend is upset, you try to make him feel better. That’s what I’m doing, Leo.” 

And with that, the line was crossed by both of them. Actually, he was starting to get the feeling that the line wasn’t there at all anymore.

“I’m fine, Ken. Leave me alone to my evil deeds.” Leo stepped around him back to the whiteboard.

Kenny sighed. He stepped forward to wrap his arms around Leo’s waist and rest his head on his shoulder. He would have liked to stand on his tiptoes to nuzzle against his cheek, but Leo's helmet blocked that possibility.

“I like your cape. Always have. It’s way softer than mine but more durable.” Kenny muttered. 

Leo groaned. “You ain’t gonna stop, are you?”

“I’m like an affectionate cat. If you don’t give me attention, I’ll crawl all over you.” Kenny squeezed him. “And the only way to get rid of me is to physically throw me out.”

Leo pinched the bridge of his nose. The open tip of his felt marker left a streak of black across his visor. He capped the marker and dropped it to the ground before removing his helmet and giving it the same discarded fate.

With a sigh, Leo turned in his arms. He slipped his hands down his back to rest on his rear. With a jerk, he forced Kenny closer to his body. 

He kissed him, catching Kenny off guard. He caught Kenny’s lower lip between his teeth as his hands slipped around to fiddle with his belt.

This wasn't the path Kenny expected this to go down. They'd had what Kenny thought of as ‘hate sex’ in uniform before, usually when they were both still tense after a battle of good and evil. It was a way for ‘Mysterion’ and ‘'Chaos’ to let off a little steam that would have otherwise seeped into Kenny and Leo's relationship.

Kenny knew how the lead up to that felt, but this was different. 

He didn't feel that raw anger or contempt in Leo's touch. This was annoyance. As if pacifying Kenny like this was nothing more than an obstacle in the way of his work.

“Stop.” Kenny pulled back, holding his lips between his own teeth. 

Leo growled, “You said you wanted attention; I’m giving it to you.”

“Not that kind of attention.” Kenny grabbed Leo's wrist and held it tight. “We need to talk, Leo. This is important.” 

They held each other’s gaze, both daring the other to make a move. In the end, Kenny lost the battle of wits by dropping Leo’s wrist. He stepped out from his grasp.

“Look, Leo, Stan told me what happened,” Kenny admitted.

Leo tensed, his teeth grinding together. 

“Oh, did he? Fucking snitch.” Leo spat. “Of course he’d run to you to tattle on me.”

Kenny shook his head. “He didn’t ‘run to me’. I found him wandering around town looking dejected and upset.”

Leo’s hands moved to bump his knuckles in front of his body but froze halfway there. Clenching them, he dropped his fists to his sides.

Kenny continued. “He told me to tell you he’s sorry. He didn’t mean to upset you.”

At that, Leo scoffed. “Yeah, sure, he’s only sayin’ that because he doesn’t want me to spill his secret, right? Well, tell him I don’t plan on it as long as he doesn’t tell anyone mine.” He went to retrieve his discarded marker.

“That never once came up as an issue.” Kenny frowned. “He really doesn’t want to lose you. He _likes_ you. He’s just like me. Neither of us can leave you now.”

Leo stayed half bent to the floor for a few heartbeats before his shoulders began to shake. Kenny let out a breath and stepped closer to stoop down. He dropped an arm around his shoulder then looped his other around his front to hug him.

“It’s alright. What’s wrong. We’ll work together to fix it, promise.” He cooed.

“What is the problem!” Leo shouted. He snapped his head up. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he blinked them away. 

“You two shouldn’t even bother with me! I’m not a good person, and I never will be!” His body shook. “I’m bad. I’ll always be bad. Nothing can change that. Not you, not Stan, not anything.”

Red painted his face. His lips quivered. Leo blinked more tears away, even harder than before. 

“That’s not true. Anyone can be a good person and make up for what they did.” Kenny rocked them gently. “That includes you.”

Leo pushed back. This time, Kenny held his ground so that the force made Leo toppled back, landing on his rear. Leo's breath escaped his mouth in quick, shallow gasps.

“Stop. Stop it now. I don't deserve it.” Leo’s chest heaved. He struggled to force the words out. “I made Chaos because I wanted to make people feel as scared and out of control as I did. I am not a good person. I’m an agent of Chaos and change! Fate didn't make me to be ‘good’. I can't ever change that.”

Leo grabbed the whiteboard to shakily haul himself to his feet. He took a step towards his helmet, then shook his head. Abandoning it and Kenny, Leo headed towards the darkness.

Emotions fought each other in Kenny's stomach: anger at himself for not getting through to Leo, regret for enabling Chaos, and lastly, amusement.

If the Mysterion way didn't work, and the Kenny way didn't work, then there was always the Netherborn way.

He didn't like to rely on that often, but maybe this time...

“Heh...”

The amusement outgrew the other two. It bubbled up out of his stomach in a series of uncontrollable snickers.

Leo paused at the edge of the light and looked over his shoulder.

Roaring laughter replaced the snickers. Kenny leaned back, holding his stomach. He kicked out his legs as tears streamed down his face.

“Oh, oh, God, Leo—AHAHAHAHAHA!” he pushed himself up, still quaking from laughter. 

Leo turned to face him. His body readied him for a fight, fists raising and legs bending.

“Do you think my suffering is funny?” He demanded.

Kenny shook his head. “Naaaaah, it's not.” He raised his face to Leo, and Leo froze.

A smile that was just a bit too wide to fit comfortably on his face stretched across Kenny's features.

“What's funny is that you think _you're_ the one Fate would choose to be an agent of change.” Kenny snickered into his hand. “Really? Chaos, you’re just a human. While you're really special to me, in the grand scheme of things you're just a normal guy. Now, me? Not so much.”

The darkness began to lap away at the edges of the pool of light. Leo gasped and jumped forward. The darkness flowed around him until he and Kenny stood in small puddles of light. Even the light bulb on the wall had been drowned.

“If some force of nature wanted to change Fate, they wouldn’t choose a normal human.” Kenny shrugged lazily. “They’d choose something with powers beyond the natural world. A being with powers granted to him by a god that is bigger than the mind can comprehend. Someone with the power to break the rules of nature and reality at will.”

“Kenny, what’s going on?” Leo almost took a step forward but stopped. 

“Heeeeey, Leo, I ever tell you I believe in fatalism?” Kenny asked idly as he clasped his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels, like a child with a secret. 

“No, I don’t think you ever have,” Leo said. His voice had a quiver to it. Kenny should have probably felt bad about that, but he didn't. This was too much fun, and, unlike the other ways, this way seemed to be getting through to Leo.

“I didn’t? Well, do you know what fatalism is?” He didn’t give him time to reply. “It’s the belief that everything is destined to happen and we can’t change it no matter what we do.” 

Kenny skipped back into the darkness. “It’s funny, right? We can fight against Fate all we want, but even that struggle is all part of the plan!” He walked around Leo, silent as death, before reaching out and brushing his fingers over his back, right about where his heart would be.

Leo spun around, but Kenny had already moved on.

“Kenny, this ain’t funny. Why are you doing this?”

“Why? Because I don’t have a choice.” Kenny sighed dramatically to Leo’s left. “No one does. Choice isn’t real.” He walked around to Leo’s back again then stepped into the light. Leo stiffened as Kenny wrapped his arms around his shoulders and rested his chin on the top of Leo’s head.

“But, you know what?” He moved his head down to purr into Leo’s ear. “It’s so much fun to pretend. It’s a _fucking hoot_ to think that what we do is actively changing the path Fate has for us.”

He pressed his lips against Leo’s jaw then mumbled, “So, play pretend with me, Leo. Pretend that Fate didn’t decide you’re a bad person and fight it.”

Kenny continued to mutter against his skin, giving in a little bit more to the Netherborn. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was saying. It wasn't English, but whatever it was, at least it seemed like kind, loving words.

Kenny had forgotten how great it felt to let the Netherborn have equal control over his actions when he wasn’t in life or death danger. Being able to bend the rules of reality around him like this felt _so_ good. Being bound by the natural laws all the time was dull. This, on the other hand, was like a high, but at the same time, he’d never been more grounded.

Why didn’t he do this more often again?

Leo shuddered under his mumbling lips and whimpered, and Kenny remembered _exactly_ why.

With a gasped, Kenny forced the netherborn back down. His boot soles landed against the concrete floor with a loud slap. The light returned to normal, blinding him for a second.

“Shit, Leo, I’m sorry!” Kenny rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know why I did that!”

Fuck! Why _did_ he do that? He knew that side of himself was a coy, tactless, blunt asshole. If rivalry and love didn’t work, did he really think affectionate indifference would? 

How stupid! 

Kenny blinked the stars from his vision then looked to Leo. His heart pounded and stomach twisted. 

No way Leo wasn’t going to be scared. No, no, no! He couldn’t lose Leo because of this! 

Leo had seen, at least from a distance, Kenny’s power go all out before. This time, however, wasn't the same. This wasn’t a ruthless display in a heated battle. This wasn't an instinctual reaction to protect his life or the lives of the ones he cared about.

This was a concentrated use and the aloof confidence that came with it. This was the snake in the Garden. This was the monster that wanted to pull and push the laws of nature. This was the controlled madness that the human mind could never comprehend. This was— 

“Horse shit!”

“What?” Kenny whispered as his head whirled with more worries and self-deprecation.

After what seemed like eons, Leo turned slowly to face him, and Kenny flinched back. 

“That’s a load of horse shit.” Leo marched over. He loomed over Kenny with his mouth set in a line. “Complete and total horse shit!”

Great, instead of scared, Leo went to angry. Kenny didn’t know if that was better or worse.

“I’m sorry!” Kenny croaked. “I just—”

“Fate ain’t some unchanging force, Ken! It ain’t fair to say so.” Leo crossed his arms like an indignant child. “Fate’s the most chaotic, cruel, beautiful and ever-changing thing there is! And I’ll be damned if I’d let you go talking bad about her like that!”

Kenny blinked. “What?”

“You heard me!” He jabbed a finger at his nose. “Fate is not set in stone, and, no offense, it’s silly to think so! Just plain silly!”

Kenny looked cross-eyed at his finger before reaching up to swipe it down. “Then—then prove it!” He stepped until they were chest to chest. “Prove it! Prove to me Fate can be changed. Decide you’re not destined to be a bad person!”

“I will!” Leo shouted. He tried to hold his stern expression, but it melted away seconds later. His shoulders slumped and legs shook. Kenny swooped forward to support him.

“You ok?” Kenny asked, helping him to his knees.

Leo let out a noisy, shaking breath. “No. My brain hurts. That was too weird.”

“I’m sorry, baby. That wasn’t my best idea.” He rubbed his back comfortingly then kissed his forehead. Leo hummed in response and fell against his shoulder.

“Hey, Kenny? When my head stops spinning from all the weirdness, do you think we can go talk to Stan? I feel bad for yelling at him now.”

Kenny squeezed him to his chest. “Yeah, we can do that.”

“And can we stop for something to drink?”

“‘Course. I'll buy.” He stroked the back of his head before resting his own cheek against him.

Well, the Netherborn way worked, though not as expected.

Then again, when did anything to do with it ever work as expected?

* * *

A shower had helped more than he thought it would. Just standing under the stream of hot water forced his head to clear, at least a little. If he had tried to go straight to bed, Stan knew he would stew on everything that happened with Leo all night long.

Stan strolled out of his bathroom and made his way towards the kitchen. A shower and microwaved corn dogs and he could sleep the rest of the night.

What Stan hadn’t expected when wandering into his kitchen, however, was to find a superhero and supervillain sitting at his table drinking chocolates shakes.

“Ok, what the hell?” Stan threw his hands out at them, allowing his towel to fall from his hair to around his shoulders.  
Leo and Kenny looked up from their drinks.

“Oh, golly....” The lower half of Leo’s cheeks colored. He glanced back down at his shake while Kenny whistled.

In his normal voice, Kenny flirted, “What’s up, hot stuff?” He propped his arm on the table and eyed Stan up and down. “You know you don’t got any pants on, right?”

A blush crept up Stan’s cheeks as he realized save for the towel on his shoulders, he had nothing on. Stan scrambled to whip the towel off his shoulders and tie it around his hips.

“First of all, screw you,” He pointed at Kenny, “second of all, how the hell did you get into my house?” His finger slid sideways towards Leo.

“Well, Stan, I’ve broken into a lot of places over my career. Your lock was really easy to pick.” Leo sucked a drink of his shake before continuing, “We got you a shake too if you want it. Kenny put it in the freezer for you.”

Stan opened his mouth to protest the break in — especially since Kenny had a _key_ — when his stomach growled.

“Stay,” Stan ordered, falling into his dog training voice. He spun around and hurried to his room to throw pajama pants and a shirt on before heading back to the kitchen. He marched up to the freezer and confirmed there was indeed a shake inside for him.

“I told you he wouldn’t be asleep,” Kenny said, pushing back his hood, as Stan fished the shake out. “He brews on his emotions after fights.”

“Fuck off,” Stan snapped, slamming the freezer shut. “What are you two doing here--and in full uniform no less.” He took the maraschino cherry from the top of the shake. “Am I under arrest or being kidnapped?”

Stan dropped the whole cherry in his mouth. 

Kenny shot finger guns at him. “Arrested for being an outstandingly _fine_ man. Eh? _Eh_?”

Stan rolled his eyes. “Seven out of ten, because the pun was not actually terrible,” he said around the cherry. He tried to tie the stem into a knot, but accidentally bit it in half instead.

“Thank you.” Kenny bowed forward. His smile slipped from his face. He took his mask off and set it on the table. “Ok, joking aside, we’re here because Leo wants to talk to you.”

Stan raised an eyebrow. “So not ‘Chaos’?” He took a drink of his shake. It was good, though the freezer had done little to combat the melting.

“No,” Leo shook his head, “not Chaos. Chaos is, uh,” he rubbed his knuckles together, “taking a break. Along one. I don’t know if he’ll ever come back.”

Stan choked on his drink. “W-What?” Stan gasped. 

Leo couldn’t actually be implying he was _giving up_ Professor Chaos, could he? After all, he’d said earlier about needing the villainous persona, it only took one talk to make him give him up? 

“Yeah, I, um, I thought about what you said and what Kenny here said and —oh boy, this is embarrassin’—but you two were right,” Leo admitted. A sigh escaped his lips as he reached up to take the helmet off. 

He continued, “I guess I got to thinking that Chaos was the only way I could change anything, if I can change it at all.” He glanced at Kenny, who glanced down. “He was the only way I could really feel safe, but, well, I don’t think that’s right anymore.”

“You don’t?” Stan slid into the final chair at the table, shake in hand.

“When you told me that I had another way of dealing with stuff and feeling safe with you all, I kind of panicked.” Leo’s shoulders slumped. “I know it's silly, but I didn’t think there was any other way. I had to have Chaos around, even just a little bit. I couldn’t feel safe otherwise. I think, maybe, I even thought at this point there was no goin’ back without him, you know?”

Stan bit his lip then rested his hand on Leo’s knuckles. “That’s not silly. Not at all.” He took a stealing breath. “I get that. I get that completely. I know sometimes it feels like it’s easier to write off there is no fixing yourself. It’s hard to shake off that thinking that...that you don’t deserve to be fixed.” Stan pulled Leo’s hand off the shake and held it. He squeezed, just as much for his own emotional support as Leo’s.

Kenny scooted closer and set a hand on Stan’s knee. He smiled reassuringly.

“I can promise,” Kenny announced with full confidence, “that l everyone in this room can be fixed — well, not ‘fixed’. Helped. Everyone in this room can be helped since no one here is broken.”

Both Stan and Leo snorted a laugh at that, but neither tried to argue.

“So, if you’re not going to be Chaos anymore, what’s your plan?” Stan asked. 

Leo twiddled his thumbs. “I was, um, planning to turn myself in, actually.”

Stan choked on his milkshake for the second time. He beat his chest before sputtering out, “W-what?!” Stan shoved the shake aside. “Leo, you know you’ll be arrested on the spot, right? Just because Kenny and I know you’re willing to change, doesn’t mean—”

Kenny put a hand on Stan’s arm. “Stan, calm down. You and I both know that if you have enough money and lawyers, anyone can get out of any crime — no offense, Leo.”

Leo shrugged. “None taken, since it’s true. I have lawyers who can give a rock solid case for insanity for a few years now, if it comes to that, but I'd rather not go to court at all. Though, I don't know how likely that is at this point. ”

“How?” Stan frowned. His head felt heavy with both worry and sleep. This really wasn’t a late night conversation. 

“Well,” Leo grinned, “I was thinking I could get a plea bargain for a lesser sentence.” He nodded proudly. “I got information on all kinds of villainous activities that I’d be willing to part with.”

Stan glanced at Kenny. Stan had never bothered to learn more than he had to about how the law worked. His job wasn’t to try the lawbreakers; it was to catch them. 

Kenny raised his shoulder. “I told him I would take him to talk to Timmy. If you and I are both on his side, maybe we can help work something out.”

“But Timmy’s going to see this as a conflict—” He yawned, reaching for the shake again, “—of interest since we’re all kind of dating? Or I think we all are. Are we?” He looked to Leo for confirmation. With a blush, Leo nodded.

Kenny stood suddenly. “I don’t know, but for now I’m tired as fuck.” He strolled around the table in between Stan and Leo, then looped his arms around theirs.

With an effortless pull, stronger than a man of his size should be able to accomplish, Kenny hauled them to their feet.

“Milkshakes away. It's bedtime for everyone!” Kenny announced. 

“Wait a sec, there,” Leo said. Snaking his arm free. “Stan didn’t say he was ok with me stayin’ too!”

“Of course he is, right, Stan?” 

Stan blinked, trying to think clearly through the fog of sleepiness. He shoved his milkshake into Kenny's hand. Kenny made a move to take Leo's, but Leo shook his head, leaving his shake abandoned on the table next to Kenny's empty cup. Kenny took a step back to put the shake in the freezer as Stan answered.

“I think there’s room for everyone, yeah.” Stan nodded groggily. “Not enough pillows though.”

Kenny scoffed. “Stan, we don’t need pillows. Leo’s chest _is_ a pillow. Believe me, I know.”

Leo blushed. “Is this really ok? I only got these clothes.” He held out his cape.

Kenny took his own cape from his shoulders and draped it around Stan's. It was warm and had Kenny's comforting scent to it. It took all of Stan's willpower not to curl up in the cape to sleep then and there.

“Just do what I do: Sleep naked.” He winked. “It's only fair at this point. You saw Stan's dick. He has the right to see yours.”

“Oh, uh, if that's how it is in the Marsh household.” Leo fiddled with the hem of his cape, covering most of his body with it.

“Just use something of mine if you're embarrassed. I have extra shorts.” Stan yawned again. “Now, let’s go or I'm sleeping on the floor.” 

He grabbed Kenny’ hand then held his own out for Leo. Leo eyed his palm a moment, then took a breath. After dropping his cape, he pulled off his gloves and set them on the table.

Before Stan could comment on that, Leo set his hand in Stan's with a smile and Stan led them towards the bedroom for a well-deserved sleep.

* * *

The leaves danced as the wind shook them from their trees. Autumn chill hung in the golden mid-morning air. It wouldn’t be much longer before Stan had to start wearing a thermal shirt under his uniform. 

Luckily for him, today he watched the world wrap itself in oranges and reds from the warmth of a waiting room. He looked at the clock hanging over the receptionist desk.

Leo’s appointment would be over soon. 

It took Leo only a month and a half to completely disband his minions and destroy all evidence of their connection to Professor Chaos. Stan would have found it an impressive feat, had Leo not told him that he had prepared for this well in advance. 

He was determined not to drag any of his minions down with him. That was something Stan found incredibly honorable.

“They don’t deserve it. Most of them were just trying to make ends meet.” Leo had explained. 

He even allowed Stan and Kenny to read over his speech for the announcement to the minions. Every word showed both his determination to make himself a better person and his sorrow at disbanding something he’d worked on since he was a teenager. Leaving Chaos behind was _hard_ for Leo to do. If not for Stan and Kenny on call to help, he probably would have relapsed and come back more evil than ever.

Once those weeks had ended and the minions’ involvement erased, Leo did exactly what he said he would and turned himself into Freedom Pals without a fight or struggle. He made his offer to give valuable information in exchange for a lighter punishment with a cool, aloof expression on his face.

Looking back, even if Doctor Timothy hadn’t agreed to his demands, Stan had a feeling Leo would have gotten off anyway. He said his lawyers could get him out of trouble, after all, and that was not a lie. 

His lawyers used loopholes and pointed outlaws that had been forgotten about for decades. They called all sorts of people to the stand to testify on Leo’s behalf. They struck down almost all of the opposition's attacks on Leo's character. Stan even remembered one of them bringing up Star Wars and Wookies for some reason. 

They’re efforts paid off in the end. Instead of incarceration in prison, Leo was to stay under house arrest, wear an ankle monitor at all times, and pay a hefty fine, along with various other stipulations.

One of those stipulations being routine therapy sessions like this one.

Stan readjusted his goggles. While plenty of normal people had been in a roar about Leo’s sentencing, it was the other villains who were the most upset. Given that Leo had, in one way or another, sold them all out, none of the heroes were all that surprised when the first death threats came.

So, Mysterion and ToolShed ‘volunteered’ to be his guards, either watching over his house or escorting him to and from home when he left. It took a day or two of convincing Doctor Timothy that them doing so was not a conflict of interest, but in the end, the boyfriends won out with their leader signing dramatically, “Fine, but he is your responsibility. He fucks up. You fuck up.”

That was a risk Stan found himself more than willing to take for his new boyfriend.

Stan shut his eyes. 

It felt strange still to call Leo his boyfriend, especially after everything came out to the public. He knew once everything settled down some more, he would have quite a few friendships he would need to repair. Plenty of his friends didn’t care what the psychologists or lawyers said. Leo was Chaos, and Chaos was bad, so Stan was bad by association.

Honestly, Stan couldn’t blame them for thinking that. Sometimes, when he remembered what Leo had done in the past, he felt it too. He felt like he was betraying his values as a hero. A few times the guilt squeezed his insides so tight, he got physically sick.

Then he remembered what he read in Leo's speech. He remembered how Leo had personally taken Disarray — Dougie — aside and swore Dougie would never have to deal with the repercussions of his involvement if he didn't want to and that Leo would make sure he still made enough money to get through school. He remembered the guilt in Leo's voice as he apologized from the stand. 

Stan just had to keep reminding himself that Leo was trying to be better. Believing in someone’s ability to change and grow was a heroic action in and of itself.

“ToolShed.”

Stan opened his eyes and turned his head. Leo's eyes were red and puffy from crying, but he looked happy, overall. 

“Mr. Stotch,” Stan greeted with a curt nod. They had to keep up appearances outside. It was a bit annoying to routinely fight down the urge to comfort Leo with a hug or hand touch, but he didn't have much if a choice.

“Ready to go?”

“Yes, just a second.” Leo took a tissue from the secretary's desk to wipe his eyes again. “Ok, ready.”

Stan kept himself composed and professional the whole car ride back to Leo’s home. He let out a sigh of relief when they made it back safely with no assassination attempts this time. 

That was three for three this month. 

Stan nodded to the driver that her job was done and she could go, before following Leo up the steps to his front door. 

He stood idly a moment, debating. It was his and Kenny’s job to protect Leo and his home so he had to a perimeter check or come in and check all the doors and locks before letting himself relax any farther. 

He did a perimeter check before they left for his session, and Kenny should be around for his guard duty soon. Timmy probably wouldn't be too upset if Stan just checked the locks. 

“Do you mind if I come in? I’d like to make sure none of the doors or windows have been...tampered with,” Stan requested. His tone came out a little more flirty than he meant it to. Since no one was around, he didn't try to correct himself.

Leo chuckled, his professional persona melting away. “Well, sure! Come on in. Check away.”

The moment Leo shut the door and twisted the lock, Stan had his arm around his waist, pulling him to his side and placing a kiss to his cheek.

“Are you feeling ok?” He asked. “How’d the session go?”

“I think it went well. We talked about my mom this time.” Leo glanced to the side. “We talked about how it’s alright for me to still feel like I should love her since she is my mom, even though I’m angry about what she did and let happen.”

Stan didn’t pry, instead pressing a kiss to his cheek then hugging him closer. He was proud that Leo had made so much progress with his feelings. When he first talked in detail about his mother in particular to Stan, he proclaimed he hated her just as much as he hated his father.

Stan was glad Leo was learning it's healthy to know emotions are complex and contradictory sometimes.

This was the growth that made Stan’s heart swell with hope.

“Do you think you’re feeling up to a lesson today?” Stan asked instead. “I think I left my guitar here last time.”

“You did,” Leo confirmed, “and, sure. I’d love that.”

“Alright, let me check all the locks first, then get out of the uniform. Kenny should be around sooner or later.” Stan took a step away before making his way towards the kitchen. 

He’d search bottom upwards, like always. The checks wouldn’t take much time. As long as nothing looked disturbed from the outside and none of the secret entrances to the old Chaos’ bases looked used, Stan would chalk everything up as fine.

Fifteen minutes later, Stan started down the steps after he finished checking the last window lock at the top of the house. Not a door, window, or rotating bookcase out of place. 

As he skipped down the last two steps, a sudden, sharp scream came from the living room.

Without missing a beat, Stan readied his weapons then dashed down the hall. He skidded to a stop in the living room entrance, ready to attack.

Leo sat with his knees against the carpet, face flushed and his hand to his face. He didn’t look hurt. In fact, he looked embarrassed. 

“That wasn’t called for at all, Ken!” Leo snapped, as Stan finally took notice of the other figure in the room. A specter of purple smoke came into reality until it solidified.

Kenny chuckled, tongue hanging from his lips. “I just licked your face. You’ll live.”

Stan let out a breath and relaxed. Leo wasn’t in danger; Kenny was just being a tease. This had become normal fare between them all. Without the need to hide behind personas, going from hero to civilian went seamlessly. Sometimes Kenny even forgot to switch back to his gruff voice after talking to Stan. Stan actually found it kind of cute when he had to remind him about that.

“You coulda warned me first,” Leo grumbled, trying to rub the saliva from his cheek with his sleeve. Kenny fell down to his knees beside him then took the edge of his cape and spit on it.

“You missed a spot,” He teased, rubbing Leo’s other cheek.

Leo flinched back with a cringe, now rubbing both cheeks. Stan snorted a laugh, placing his screwdrivers back in their holsters. 

“Stop it. That’s pretty unprofessional of you, Mysterion,” Stan chided as he walked towards them. “At least take the hood off first.” Kenny rolled his eyes playfully as Stan knelt down with them. He didn’t protest when Stan pushed his hood back from his face, though he didn’t remove this mask. 

“Now I can tease him?” Kenny asked, holding his hand out to lick it. 

Before Stan could answer, Leo ran his tongue over his own palm then pressed it against Kenny’s forehead. He ran it through Kenny's hair, leaving the blond lock sticking up. Stan couldn’t help but laugh as Kenny jerked away, falling back to his side.

While Leo snickered, Kenny narrowed his eyes.

“That was a show of hostility towards a superhero. ToolShed, I need you to pin his arms down so I can give him a wet willy.” His lips twisted up in a smirk. 

“What? No! This is an abuse of power!” Leo cried playfully scooting away. “If you do this, I'll turn you in as lawbreakers!”

Kenny hummed, then scoffed, “I'll have you know my _boyfriend_ knows some really good lawyers.”

Leo chuckled, crawling behind Stan.

“He's trying to get me. It's your job to keep me safe.”

Stan looked between Leo behind him and Kenny before him. An impish gleam showed in both their eyes.

“Technically, if he's here, I'm off the clock.” Stan stood. “Buuuuut, a little overtime never hurt anyone.”

Quicker than Kenny could react, Stan pushed him down and sat on his back. 

They all knew Kenny could easily escape Stan, but they also knew he wouldn't. This wasn't a real battle between good and evil, heroes and villains. This was just playful teasing between good people.

* * *

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) and this is the end! Sorry,y you had to wait an extra two days before I could get this last chapter out. Should have scheduled my time better than I did.
> 
> Anyway, thanks all for sticking with this story and leaving all those kind reviews, kudos, likes, reblogs, and so forth! Hopefully,y I can finish Cheat the Reaper and be able to post another long work soon enough, but if not there is always the one-shots I have stored up! ;^)
> 
> Feel free to follow my writing Tumblr for updates.

**Author's Note:**

> Next update will be next Wensday  
> You can follow my writing tumblr [ over here if you would like ](https://uas-fics.Tumblr.com)


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